The age of TradFi ETFs is over; the age of spot crypto ETFs has begun. At least, that’s how it feels this week as spot ether strategies arrived to join their spot bitcoin ETF cousins. Crypto has come a long, long way from bitcoin’s launch in January 2009 to make it to the ETF wrapper. Indeed, there were a lot of twists and turns along the way, including an entire generation of crypto ETFs that preceded spot strategies.
See more: Spot Ether ETFs’ Big Day: Looking Beyond Bitcoin
Indeed, ETF issuers launched a whole suite of crypto infrastructure ETFs to try to bridge the gap between the ETF world and cryptocurrencies themselves. Those strategies, often investing in the blockchain but also other important players in making crypto possible, did well before spot and could yet provide an intriguing investment opportunity, especially as spot takes crypto further into the investing landscape than ever before.
The First Trust SkyBridge Crypto Industry & Digital Economy ETF (CRPT) stands out here. The active ETF will hit its three-year ETF milestone in September. CRPT charges 85 basis points for its approach. The strategy looks for firms supporting not just crypto but the broader digital economy. It invests in firms that derive at least 50% of revenues from crypto areas like asset mining, mining equipment, and more. CRPT invests the other half of its assets in digital economy areas like digital banks, semiconductors, and more.
The fund has already stood out among crypto ETFs. Per data from ETF Database, it has returned a staggering 99% over one year. YTD it has stood out as well, returning 54.1%. Both of those totals vastly outperform its ETF Database and FactSet Segment averages. As crypto ETFs move into spot, it could be set to continue its strong performance.
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