U.S. asset management giant T. Rowe Price entered the crypto sector on Thursday with the launch of a cryptocurrency ETF trading on NYSE Arca under the ticker TKNZ. The company initially filed for the product in October last year, meaning the launch process took around nine months to complete.
The Baltimore-based company has been managing assets for nearly 90 years and oversees close to $1.9 trillion in client assets. T. Rowe Price describes TKNZ as the market’s first actively managed multi-token spot cryptocurrency ETF.
The key difference lies in how the fund is managed. Rather than tracking a fixed index, fund managers can adjust portfolio weightings based on the company’s own research and market outlook. This structure separates TKNZ from existing passive spot crypto ETFs, which generally track a single asset or a predetermined index.
Portfolio includes nine crypto assets
When the fund began trading, its portfolio was allocated as follows:
• Bitcoin (BTC): 40.75%• Ethereum (ETH): 18.42%• BNB: 11.01%• Solana (SOL): 9.44%• XRP: 9.37%• Hyperliquid (HYPE): 6.45%• Stellar Lumens (XLM): 3%• Dogecoin (DOGE): 1.28%• USD Coin (USDC): 0.16%• Cash and cash equivalents: 0.11%
What analysts are saying?
Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented on the allocation in a post on X. He described the Bitcoin weighting as low while viewing the allocations to the remaining assets, particularly HYPE, as relatively high.
According to Balchunas, the fund launched with approximately $15 million in assets and charges a 0.75% management fee. That rate is higher than the fees applied by some passive Bitcoin and Ether ETFs currently available in the market.
HYPE’s relatively large portfolio weighting may appear unusual at first, but the token has recently become one of the stronger performers in the cryptocurrency market. Its price reached an all-time high of around $74.50 last month. It is currently trading near $65.60 and has gained 38% over the past year.
Bitcoin, by comparison, has lost 45% during the same period. This divergence in performance may partly explain the difference between their portfolio weightings.
The fund will be permitted to invest in proof-of-stake networks, but it will not initially use any of its holdings to generate staking income. The prospectus does not completely rule out staking and notes that the practice could be introduced in the future.
This cautious approach reflects a broader trend among fund managers offering products involving staked crypto assets, as regulatory uncertainty surrounding staking has yet to be fully resolved.
The fund will be led by Blue Macellari, head of T. Rowe Price’s digital assets unit, who will serve as lead portfolio manager. Four associate portfolio managers will support her.
TKNZ’s price performance and potential inflows and outflows during its first weeks of trading will offer an important indication of how much institutional demand exists for actively managed, multi-token cryptocurrency ETFs.
