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21Shares Under New Management: Still Launching Alt-L1s Like Nothing Happened

Two weeks after FalconX closed its acquisition of 21Shares (November 20th), the Swiss crypto ETP pioneer is back to doing what it does best: listing obscure blockchain exposure products on SIX Swiss Exchange like it's their full-time job.

Which, to be fair, it is.

The Latest Batch:

This week brought four new staking ETPs to market:

  • Toncoin (TONH/TONS) – Telegram's blockchain play
  • Sui (SUIH/SUIS) – the “Solana killer” du jour
  • NEAR Protocol (NRPH/NRPS) – “blockchain for humans”
  • Flare (FLRH/FLRS) – oracle-focused infrastructure

All with staking yields. All regulated. All very Swiss.

Why This Matters:

When FalconX acquired 21Shares (which managed over $11 billion in assets) in October, the narrative was all about “accelerating the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets” and “institutional-grade infrastructure meeting ETP expertise.” Very serious. Very professional.

But here's what's actually happening: 21Shares isn't slowing down to integrate. They're not pausing for strategic reviews. They're not having lengthy all-hands meetings about “cultural alignment.”

They're launching Toncoin ETPs.

The Product Philosophy:

While BlackRock and Fidelity are fighting over Bitcoin and Ethereum market share (collectively managing $173 billion in spot ETF assets), 21Shares is out here productising the entire alt-L1 catalogue for European retail investors who want their blockchain exposure with:

1.    Swiss regulatory approval
2.    Staking yields baked in
3.    Tickers they can actually pronounce

This is the financial equivalent of opening a speakeasy next door to Starbucks. Everyone knows about coffee, but what if you want a craft cocktail made from beans nobody's heard of?
The FalconX Calculus:

Russell Barlow (21Shares CEO) said the acquisition compressed their growth timeline from 5 years to 2-3 years, enabled by FalconX's $2 trillion trading volume infrastructure and 2,000+ institutional client relationships.

Translation: They're using prime brokerage muscle to move faster on weird products.
This week's launches prove it. While the U.S. waits for the SEC to approve 155 pending crypto ETP filings (including 23 Bitcoin/Solana combos and 20 XRP trackers), 21Shares is quietly building a Swiss alt-L1 supermarket.


The Actual Innovation:

Here's what nobody's talking about: These aren't just spot exposure products. The staking component fundamentally changes the value proposition. You're not just buying TON or SUI or NEAR exposure – you're earning the native staking yields that make these networks economically interesting in the first place.

It's the institutionalisation of “farming alt-L1s” but through SIX Swiss Exchange instead of MetaMask and a prayer.


What Happens Next:

If this is the pace two weeks post-acquisition, imagine six months from now when FalconX's infrastructure is fully integrated. The company went from $0 to $11 billion in AUM in eight years. Under FalconX's umbrella, with access to institutional trading desks, derivatives platforms, and a potential IPO on the horizon?

We're about to find out if Swiss regulatory approval can keep up with Silicon Valley product velocity.

Meanwhile, your uncle in Zurich can now professionally allocate to Telegram's blockchain while earning staking rewards through his regular brokerage account.
What a time to be alive.

 

Bernie Thurston

Bernie loves data. Fortunately for him, London’s finance industry has been indulgent, providing him lots of benchmark data to play with and enjoy. Bernie’s journey began at Sky, where he designed the first interactive television and helped build a technical-based charity (ctt.org). He then hopped over to finance, and soon found himself at a start-up working on dividends and derivatives. Then, by nature of the fact that finance and technology have rapidly conjoined, he found himself working with Credit Suisse to build an index aggregation and distribution platform. Markit then acquired the start-up and Bernie battled his way up the greasy pole becoming the Managing Director of Markit’s equities division, with responsibility for index, ETF and Dividends. But the siren song of startups called once more. And Bernie was headhunted to rescue a failing index business. Over five years, he helped reverse the fortunes of DeltaOne Solutions, turning into a fighting force. So successful was the turn around that Markit came along and acquired this company as well. But Bernie still loved start-ups. To that end, he founded Ultumus, an ETF and benchmark data company. Ultumus aims to provide the best data in the most timely and consumable manner possible. With clients on both buy and sell side, when something happens in the index or ETF industry, Ultumus is the first to know.

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