21Shares Unveils Two ETPs Tracking DeFi and Layer-1 Blockchains
21Shares has announced the launch of two new exchange-traded products (ETP) with ticker symbols LAY1 and DEFII, to offer investors exposure to decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions and the leading layer-1 blockchains that form the technical foundation of the DeFi space. 21Shares’ Layer1 ETP is now listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, while the DeFi 10 Infrastructure ETP will go live on BX Swiss Exchange on May 18, 2022.
21Shares DeFi & Layer1 ETPs
Barely one month after rolling out its SAND ETP to enable investors to take advantage of the rapidly evolving metaverse investment market, 21Shares, a Switzerland-based firm that claims to be focused on making investing in crypto easy by using conventional financial institutions, has launched two new ETPs.
Dubbed the 21Shares Layer 1 ETP (symbol: LAY1) and the 21Shares DeFi 10 Infrastructure ETP, the firm says the two new investment products are designed to enable investors to invest in the DeFi ecosystem, as well as in the layer-1 distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks powering them
Per a May 12, 2022, press release by the team, the 21Shares Layer1 ETP is now listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and invests in an index that is made up of the five-largest layer-1 blockchains, with a maximum weighting of 30 percent per blockchain, with rebalancing carried out on quarterly basis.
On the other hand, the team says the 21Shares DeFi 10 Infrastructure ETP (DEFII) is designed to offer investors targeted exposure to the emerging DeFi industry. DEFII tracks a customized index that’s based on a combination of the price action of decentralized DeFi applications, and their underlying layer1 blockchains.
Each dApp in the DEFII index comprises 50 percent of the overall index and the cryptoassets in both categories are ranked by market capitalization, with rebalancing done on a quarterly basis. The DEFII ETP will go live on the BX Swiss Exchange on May 18, 2022. Both the Layer 1 ETP and the DeFi 10 Infrastructure ETP were customized by Vinter, a regulated crypto-focused index provider.
A Paradigm Shift
The latest milestone makes 21Shares the first issuer in Europe to launch an ETP based on a DeFi index. Commenting on the launch of the ETPs, Ophelia Snyder, Co-founder and President of 21Shares said:
“Our financial system is at the beginning of a paradigm shift. A plethora of new blockchain-based applications around DeFi and Web3 are already under development and making enormous progress. They are the components of a completely new, democratic, and inclusive financial system. With our new thematic crypto ETPs, we’re providing investors with two broadly diversified investment vehicles at the ideal time to participate in this revolution.”
Founded in 2018, 21Shares is one of the leading ETP providers in the blockchain space. In 2022 alone, the firm has rolled out a handful of ETPs offering investors exposure to some of the top crypto and DeFi projects, including Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE), and Chainlink (LINK).
On May 12, 2022, 21Shares achieved another significant feat in the crypto ecosystem, after its spot bitcoin (BTC) and ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) started trading on the Cboe Australia exchange, making it the first crypto spot ETF in the Asia-Pacific region.
