Digital assets exchange-traded product landscape: past, present and future

In today’s newsletter, Joshua De Vos, head of research at CoinDesk, summarizes their latest crypto ETF report covering U.S. adoption, the speed at which it’s happening and asset concentration.

In Keep Reading, we link to the U.S. and Global ETF reports for those who want to do a deeper dive.

– Sarah Morton

Digital assets exchange-traded product landscape: past, present and future

Crypto for Advisors – February – Digital Asset ETPs

Digital asset Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) are now one of the clearest signals of how quickly crypto is being integrated into traditional portfolio infrastructure. As presented in CoinDesk’s latest research report, the market has moved beyond the early phase of fragmented access and into a period where regulated wrappers and exchange-traded fund (ETF) distribution are materially shaping how capital enters the asset class.

The state of crypto ETP adoption

As of the end of 2025, crypto ETP assets under management (AUM) reached $184 billion. The United States remains the center of gravity, accounting for approximately $145 billion, or close to 80% of global assets AUM. ETFs dominate the product landscape, representing 84.6% of crypto structured products by assets. The market is also heavily skewed toward simple exposure. Around 94.1% of crypto ETPs employ a delta-one strategy, and 96.1% are passively managed.

The growth in AUM has been driven primarily by the launch of U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs in January 2024. The step-change was immediate. The launch cycle pushed crypto ETP assets sharply higher and created a product category that now sits inside the same ETF allocation frameworks used across equities, fixed income and commodities.

The pace of adoption has also been unusually fast when compared to earlier ETF cycles. U.S. bitcoin ETFs reached $100 billion in assets in just 11 months, while U.S. gold ETFs took nearly 16 years to surpass the same milestone. By early 2025, bitcoin ETFs had matched 91% of the top 10 U.S. gold ETFs by AUM, before gold’s subsequent rally widened the gap. This is less a statement about relative value and more a statement about how quickly bitcoin has been absorbed into institutional distribution channels once the wrapper became available.

Scale and concentration

Within the crypto ETP market, exposure remains heavily concentrated. Bitcoin-based products account for $144 billion in AUM, representing 78.2% of total AUM. Ether-based products have reached $26.5 billion, indicating that institutional demand is gradually broadening beyond bitcoin. Outside of those two assets, exposure remains limited. Solana- and XRP-linked products manage $3.8 billion and $3.0 billion respectively, while multi-cryptocurrency ETPs represent 0.62% of total AUM, or $2.16 billion.

The pipeline broadens

This hierarchy is consistent with how ETF markets typically develop. Institutions tend to begin with the most liquid assets, in the most established structures, before expanding into broader exposure as markets deepen and benchmarks standardise. That dynamic is now beginning to appear in the crypto ETP pipeline. As of end-2025, more than 125 digital asset ETP filings were pending, with bitcoin continuing to lead the filing landscape, followed by XRP and Solana as the most active single-asset categories.

The other notable development is the growing momentum behind basket products. Multi-cryptocurrency ETPs remain a small segment by AUM, but they represent the second most active category by number of pending filings. This matters because basket products tend to become more relevant as markets mature, correlations evolve and concentration risk becomes more apparent. Indices such as the CoinDesk 5 and CoinDesk 20 are increasingly being used as reference points for ETPs, structured notes and derivatives, reflecting the market’s gradual shift toward diversified exposure.

Advisor access

The expansion of crypto ETPs has also occurred before broad adoption across major advisory platforms. Many large advisors remain in evaluation or early allocation phases, suggesting current AUM reflects initial positioning rather than full participation. That is beginning to change, with firms such as Vanguard only recently expanding client access to crypto ETFs.

Looking ahead, the scale of the global ETF market provides context for how large the category could become. Global ETF and ETP assets are projected to grow to roughly $30 trillion by 2030. Within that framework, even modest allocation decisions have the potential to translate into a materially larger crypto ETP market over time.

This summary was created based on CoinDesk Research’s latest report; Digital Assets ETP Landscape: Past, Present and Future.

– Joshua De Vos, research team lead, CoinDesk

Keep Reading

Read the full global and U.S. ETF reports here: