21Shares Launches S&P Risk-Controlled Bitcoin and Ether ETPs

Despite falling crypto markets this year, Swiss ETP crypto firm 21Shares has seen new crypto streams hit new highs historical since the beginning of the year. New

With cryptocurrency markets down more than 50% this year, 21Shares is working to replicate the benchmarks of the S&P Dow Jones Indices with its new risk-adjusted crypto investment products.

Swiss crypto investment firm 21Shares has launched two new exchange-traded products (ETPs) offering investors exposure to the biggest cryptocurrencies – Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) – while aiming to mitigate the volatility via a rebalancing of assets against the US dollar (USD).

The new products, the 21Shares S&P Risk Controlled Bitcoin Index ETP and the 21Shares S&P Risk Controlled Ethereum Index ETP, will begin trading on the Swiss SIX Exchange on July 20. The ETPs will trade under the symbols SPBTC and SPETH, the company announced on Wednesday.

Both ETPs target a volatility level of 40%, which is achieved through dynamic rebalancing or allocating more assets to USD as volatility increases. The products seek to replicate the benchmarks of S&P indices which control risk by adjusting exposure to the underlying index and dynamically allocating to US dollars.

21Shares ETP Product Manager Arthur Krause pointed out that the 40% target refers to volatility rather than investment performance. In a statement to Cointelegraph, Krause noted that large-cap stocks in the United States have had an annual historical volatility of 20%. For Bitcoin, that figure stood at 70%, while Ether's volatility stood at 80%, he said, adding:

“The 21Shares S&P Risk Controlled Index ETPs combine exposure to a volatile cryptocurrency with cash – which has no volatility – in an attempt to achieve the overall objective of moderate volatility.”

Sharon Liebowitz, Senior Director of Innovation at S&P Dow Jones Indices, mentioned that the company has been actively involved in crypto in recent years. Last year, S&P launched a cryptocurrency index that tracks the crypto market by...