21Shares responds to bear market with crypto winter ETP

Published at: June 29, 2022

21Shares, a global issuer of crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), is taking action to respond to the current bear market by launching crypto winter-focused investment tools.

The company has rolled out the 21Shares Bitcoin Core ETP (CBTC), an ETP specifically designed to offer low-cost exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) to the ongoing market sell-off.

The physically-backed Bitcoin ETP started trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange on Wednesday, with a total expense ratio of 21 basis points, selected to reflect the 21 million cap on Bitcoin. According to the firm, CBTC’s ratio is 44 basis points below the next lowest product on the market.

CBTC is part of 21Shares wider bear market-focused series of products referred to as the Crypto Winter Suite. The offering aims to provide investors with more options through whichto enter the crypto ecosystem during challenging markets by providing lower costs, 21Shares’ ETP product director Arthur Krause told Cointelegraph.

“Typically, the best time to buy an asset is when prices have fallen — but that is often when investors are the most reluctant to buy,” Krause noted. He added that CBTC aims to make it a bit easier for investors to access Bitcoin during highly volatile markets to optimize portfolio returns.

According to the executive, 21Shares already offers several products that are oriented toward more challenging market conditions, including 21Shares Short Bitcoin ETP and 21Shares Bytetree BOLD ETP. The new crypto winter offering aims to expand these investment opportunities further on bear market-focused products, Krause said, adding:

“CBTC will be a permanent member of the 21Shares product range (as will future products that are launched as a part of the Crypto Winter Suite). We intend to offer investors a full range of products that support them in positioning portfolios for a range of market conditions.”

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, many industry executives were expecting a major crypto market decline to happen in 2022. Some execs even predicted that the next Bitcoin bull run won’t come until 2024 or early 2025, tied to Bitcoin’s fourth halving.

In June, the major cryptocurrency Bitcoin dipped below $20,000 for the first time since late 2020, fueling extreme fear sentiment on markets. Despite many crypto firms suffering major losses due to this bear market, some executives still expressed confidence that bear markets are good for Bitcoin and the crypto industry in general.