The industry of crypto ETPs is booming: assets under management (AUM) across all ETPs shot up 95% since December to $35.96 billion, according to a report released today.
The Digital Asset Management Review report, by research firm CryptoCompare, says that the majority of AUM for ETPs is in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)—which increased its AUM by 93.7% in the past 30 days to $22.6 billion.
ETPs (exchange traded products) track the value of an underlying asset—just like stocks. Bitcoin or crypto ETPs allow people or companies to invest without actually holding the asset themselves.
As the prices of Bitcoin and altcoins have increased, more people have become interested in investing in the asset—especially institutional investors (a company that invests on behalf of others.)
They are useful for those who dont want to worry about holding Bitcoin or Ethereum but still would like to invest.
CryptoCompares report says that these regulated products are becoming more available than previously.
“These products make it easier for investors because they can be traded on traditional stock exchanges, with the complexities of custody and storage abstracted away from the end user,” the report notes.
Crypto ETP volumes almost tripled this month, CryptoCompare notes, to $837 million a day. Again, the GBTC is the biggest player, representing most—64%—of this trading volume.
The report adds that AUM in Grayscales Ethereum Trust (ETHE) was up 69.4% to $3.47 billion.
The 3iQ Listed Trust Product (QBTC) is the best performing Bitcoin product by market price over the last 30 days—increasing 91.3%.