In today’s newsletter, Joshua De Vos, Head of Research at CoinDesk, summarizes his latest crypto ETF report covering U.S. adoption, the speed at which it is occurring, and the concentration of assets.
In Continue Reading, we link to the US and Global ETF reports for those who want to dig deeper.
-Sarah Morton
Digital Asset Exchange Traded Product Landscape: Past, Present and Future
Crypto for Advisors – February – Digital Asset ETPs
Digital asset exchange-traded products (ETPs) are now one of the clearest signals of how quickly crypto is being integrated into traditional wallet infrastructure. As CoinDesk’s latest research report shows, the market has moved beyond the initial phase of fragmented access and has entered a period where regulated envelopes and the distribution of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are significantly shaping how capital enters the asset class.
The State of Crypto ETP Adoption
At the end of 2025, crypto ETP assets under management (AUM) reached $184 billion. The United States remains the center of gravity, representing approximately $145 billion, or nearly 80% of global assets under management. ETFs dominate the product landscape, accounting for 84.6% of crypto structured products by assets. The market is also heavily skewed towards single exposure. About 94.1% of crypto ETPs use a delta-one strategy and 96.1% are passively managed.
The growth in assets under management is mainly due to the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States in January 2024. The step change was immediate. The launch cycle pushed crypto assets ETPs higher and created a product category that now fits within the same ETF allocation frameworks used for stocks, fixed income and commodities.
The pace of adoption has also been unusually rapid compared to previous ETF cycles. US bitcoin ETFs reached $100 billion in assets in just 11 months, while US gold ETFs took almost 16 years to surpass the same milestone. At the start of 2025, Bitcoin ETFs accounted for 91% of the top 10 US gold ETFs in terms of assets, before gold’s subsequent rally widened the gap. This is less of a statement about relative value and more of a statement about how quickly bitcoin was absorbed into institutional distribution channels once the wrapper became available.
Scale and focus
Within the crypto ETP market, exposure remains highly concentrated. Bitcoin-based products represent $144 billion in assets under management, or 78.2% of total assets under management. Ether-based products reached $26.5 billion, indicating that institutional demand is gradually expanding beyond bitcoin. Apart from these two assets, exposure remains limited. Products linked to Solana and
The pipeline is expanding
This hierarchy is consistent with how ETF markets typically develop. Institutions tend to start with the most liquid assets, in the most established structures, before broadening their exposure as markets deepen and benchmarks normalize. This dynamic is now starting to show in the crypto ETP pipeline. By the end of 2025, over 125 digital asset ETP deposits were pending, with Bitcoin continuing to dominate the deposit landscape, followed by XRP and Solana as the most active single asset classes.
The other notable development is the growing momentum behind shopping cart products. Multi-cryptocurrency ETPs remain a small segment by AUM, but they represent the second most active category in terms of number of pending deposits. This is important because basket products tend to become more relevant as markets mature, correlations evolve, and concentration risk becomes more apparent. Indexes such as CoinDesk 5 and CoinDesk 20 are increasingly used as reference points for ETPs, structured notes and derivatives, reflecting the market’s gradual shift towards diversified exposure.
Advisor access
The expansion of crypto ETPs also occurred before their widespread adoption on major advisory platforms. Many large advisors remain in the evaluation or early allocation phase, suggesting that current assets under management reflect initial positioning rather than full participation. This is starting to change, with companies like Vanguard only recently expanding customer access to crypto ETFs.
Looking ahead, the scale of the global ETF market provides context for how big this category could become. Global ETF and ETP assets are expected to reach approximately $30 trillion by 2030. As part of this, even modest allocation decisions have the potential to result in a significantly larger crypto ETP market over time.
This summary was created based on the latest report from CoinDesk Research; Digital Asset ETP Landscape: Past, Present and Future.
– Joshua De Vos, Research Team Leader, CoinDesk
Continue reading
Read the full global and US ETF reports here:
