T. Rowe Price has filed to hold a broad set of digital assets in its new exchange-traded fund (ETF), including bitcoin, ether, dogecoin and shiba inu.
The asset manager, which has $1.8 trillion in assets under management, filed an amended S-1 registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) offering new details about its planned Price Active Crypto ETF, a fund designed to give investors actively managed exposure to digital assets.
The updated filing, filed Monday, expands on the company’s original October filing and details the cryptocurrencies the fund may invest in, along with details about the depository, trading structure and potential betting 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 star lumen (XLM), shiba inu (SHIB) and .
Despite the broad universe, the fund will not hold all of these assets at once. Under normal circumstances, the ETF plans to hold between five and fifteen cryptoassets at a time, using an active management strategy rather than tracking a single token or passively following a benchmark. The portfolio will be rebalanced using quantitative models incorporating fundamentals, valuation and market momentum, 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 ETF’s digital tokens.
For now, the fund will use a cash subscription and redemption model, meaning investors will create or redeem ETF shares using cash instead of transferring cryptocurrency directly. The filing notes that the structure may evolve to allow in-kind transactions in the future, a model some crypto ETFs use to exchange shares for the underlying digital assets.
Another notable addition in the filing is the possibility that the fund could participate in staking, a process used by some blockchains where token holders unlock assets to help secure the network in exchange for rewards.
T. Rowe Price said that venture could be pursued in the future depending on risk considerations, tax treatment and regulatory guidance.
The filing marks another step by the 87-year-old investment firm, which is one of the top 25 asset management firms, towards entering the digital asset market.
If approved, the product will join a growing list of crypto investment instruments 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 launched in the US in 2024, giving managers more flexibility to move holdings as crypto markets evolve.
