Charles Schwab’s $655 billion asset management arm is launching its first crypto-related exchange-traded fund (ETF). The new fund will begin trading this week on the NYSE Arca exchange.
Charles Schwab Launches First Crypto-Related ETF
Schwab Asset Management, a subsidiary of Charles Schwab Corporation, last week announced the launch of the Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF (NYSE Arca: STCE), calling the new product “the company’s first crypto-related ETF.”
Charles Schwab is a leading American brokerage, banking, and financial services firm. According to the Schwab Asset Management website, it currently has over $655 billion in assets under management. It is the third largest provider of index mutual funds and the fifth largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF is expected to begin trading around August 4, the announcement details add.
The fund is designed to track Schwab Asset Management’s new proprietary index, the Schwab Crypto Thematic Index.
According to the fund’sprospectusfiled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, the Schwab Crypto Sematic ETF is designed to “develop or utilize cryptocurrencies (including bitcoin) and other digital assets, blockchain and other distributed It is designed to provide global exposure to companies that may benefit from business activities related to ledger technology.” It further warns that “the Fund is non-diversified and may invest in securities of a relatively small number of issuers.”
The announcement states.
The Fund does not invest directly in cryptocurrencies or digital assets; it invests in companies listed in the Schwab Crypto Thematic Index.
As of July 29, components of the Schwab Crypto Thematic Index included Microstrategy, Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Blockchain, Silvergate Capital, and Coinbase Global, Robinhood Markets, Interactive Brokers, Nvidia, CME Group, Bitfarms, Hut 8 Mining, International Exchange, Paypal, SBI Holdings, Block Inc. Block Inc, Monex Group, Hive Blockchain, Internet Initiative Japan, Bakkt Holdings, NCR Corporation, and Bancolombia.
David Bossett, Managing Director and Head of Equity Product Management and Innovation at Schwab Asset Management, comments:
The Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF seeks to provide access to the growing global crypto ecosystem, along with the benefits of transparency and low cost that investors and advisors have come to expect from Schwab ETFs.
Meanwhile, the SEC has yet to approve a bitcoin spot ETF, despite approving several bitcoin futures ETFs; in June, Grayscale Investment, the world’s largest digital asset manager, announced that securities regulators had approved its flagship bitcoin trust, GBTC, into a spot bitcoin ETF, and filed suit against the SEC after the agency rejected its application.
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