T. Rowe Price, the 87-year-old investment firm known for its mutual funds, is entering crypto.
On Wednesday, the company filed an S-1 form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF.
The S-1 is an important regulatory filing that signals a company’s intent to list a new product, often used in advance of a public offering. In this case, the ETF would give investors active exposure to digital assets, a remarkable shift for a company that manages over $1.8 trillion, mostly through conservative investment vehicles like mutual funds.
“Didn’t expect it, but I get it. There will be a land rush for this space as well,” Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said in a note on X on Wednesday.
But T. Rowe Price has signaled interest in crypto for some time. At an ETF conference in Las Vegas earlier this year, Dominic Rizzo, who manages the firm’s technology-focused ETF, said now is a good time to consider bitcoin exposure. He compared the cryptocurrency’s price to the price of a commodity, saying it closely follows the cost of mining it.
If approved, the fund will join a growing list of crypto-related ETFs trying to capture investor demand without offering direct coin ownership. The active approach can also give fund managers more flexibility to navigate volatile markets.
