T. Rowe Price has filed to hold a wide range of digital assets in its new exchange-traded fund (ETF), including Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.
The asset manager, which manages $1.8 trillion in assets, filed an amended S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), offering new details about its proposed Price Active Crypto ETF, a fund designed to provide investors with actively managed exposure to digital assets.
The updated filing, submitted Monday, expands on the company’s original October application and describes the cryptocurrencies the fund may invest in, as well as details on custody, business structure and potential staking activity.
According to the document, the ETF could hold several digital assets, including bitcoin ether (ETH), solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), avalanche (AVAX), , , hedera (HBAR), chain link starlight (XLM), shiba inu (SHIB) and .
Despite this vast universe, the fund will not hold all of these assets at the same time. Under normal circumstances, the ETF plans to hold between five and fifteen crypto assets at a time, using an active management strategy rather than tracking a single token or passively tracking a benchmark index. The portfolio will be rebalanced using quantitative models incorporating fundamentals, valuation and market dynamics, with the aim of outperforming the FTSE US listed crypto index, the filing said.
The amended filing also confirmed that Anchorage Digital Bank NA will serve as the fund’s crypto asset custodian, responsible for safeguarding the digital tokens held by the ETF.
For now, the fund will use a cash subscription and redemption model, meaning investors would create or redeem ETF shares using cash rather than transferring cryptocurrencies directly. The filing indicates that the structure could evolve to allow for in-kind transactions in the future, a model that some crypto ETFs use to exchange shares for the underlying digital assets.
Another notable addition to the filing is the possibility that the fund could participate in staking, a process used by some blockchains where token holders lock up assets to help secure the network in exchange for rewards.
T. Rowe Price said staking may be pursued in the future based on risk considerations, tax treatment and regulatory guidance.
The filing marks another step by the 87-year-old investment firm, which is among the top 25 asset management companies, toward entering the digital asset market.
If approved, the product would join a growing list of crypto investment vehicles designed to give investors exposure to the sector through traditional brokerage accounts.
The fund’s active approach could set it apart from the wave of spot bitcoin ETFs launching in the United States in 2024, giving managers more flexibility to move their holdings as crypto markets evolve.
