A premier American global investment management firm, T. Rowe Price plans to hold a wide range of digital assets, such as ether, bitcoin, dogecoin and Shiba Inu, in its new exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The company has around $1.8 trillion in assets under management. It has submitted an amended S-1 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission with new information about its proposed Price Active Crypto ETF, a fund meant to provide investors with actively managed exposure to digital assets.
The updated filing, submitted Monday, expands on the company’s original October application and outlines the cryptocurrencies the fund may invest in, along with details on custody, trading structure, and potential staking activity.
According to the document, the ETF could hold several digital assets, including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, ADA, Avalanche, LTC, DOT, DOGE, Hedera, BCH, Chainlink, Stellar Lumen, Shiba Inu and SUI.
Despite that wide universe, the fund will not hold all of those assets at once. Under normal circumstances, the ETF plans to maintain between five and fifteen crypto assets 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 that incorporate fundamentals, valuation, and market momentum, with the goal of outperforming the FTSE US-Listed Crypto Index, the filing said.
The amended filing also confirmed that Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. 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 cryptocurrency directly.
The filing notes that the structure could 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 lock up assets to help secure the network in exchange for rewards.
T. Rowe Price said staking 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, 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 broking accounts.
The fund’s active approach could set it apart from the wave of spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the U.S. in 2024, allowing managers more flexibility to shift holdings as crypto markets evolve.
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