FalconX, the institutional digital-asset prime broker, said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire 21shares, the provider of the world’s largest suite of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products. The deal, which the companies described as a strategic step to fuse listed markets with digital-asset infrastructure, brings 21shares’ product know-how together with FalconX’s trading, credit and risk platform.
The acquisition will leave 21shares as an independently managed business under the FalconX umbrella, with Russell Barlow remaining as CEO and no planned changes to the construction or investment objectives of existing European ETPs or U.S. ETFs, the companies said. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Founded in 2018 by Hany Rashwan and Ophelia Snyder, 21shares has grown into a dominant issuer of physically backed crypto ETPs, managing more than $11 billion across roughly 55 listed products as of Sept. 30, 2025, according to the companies. Its research team and proprietary technology have helped the firm move quickly to list products on some of the world’s most liquid exchanges.
Increasing Investor Access to Digital Assets
FalconX, co-founded by Raghu Yarlagadda, has built a broad institutional franchise, facilitating more than $2 trillion in trading volume for over 2,000 institutional clients, and has been pushing beyond market-making and prime-brokerage services into asset management and market infrastructure this year. Executives framed the deal as a logical extension of that shift, allowing FalconX to offer familiar, regulated structures that can broaden investor access to digital assets.
“21shares has built one of the most trusted and innovative product platforms in digital assets,” Yarlagadda said in a prepared statement, adding that folding listed markets into FalconX’s institutional backbone would strengthen market efficiency and create durable enterprise value across market cycles. The co-founders of 21shares, Hany Rashwan and Ophelia Snyder, said they were looking forward to FalconX building on the business’s existing foundation.
Executives said the combined company will focus on developing tailored investment products for both institutional and retail investors, including funds that leverage derivatives and structured solutions to meet evolving demand for regulated crypto exposure. The move follows several strategic expansions by FalconX in 2025, including integrations and majority stakes in other asset management and market-making ventures as it broadens its global footprint across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific.
Market observers framed the acquisition against a backdrop of accelerating institutional acceptance of crypto ETFs and ETPs, a trend that has gathered momentum in recent months as regulators and exchanges have cleared paths for new listed products. For FalconX, the purchase signals an attempt to put a full stack, from prime brokerage and derivatives to listed products, under one roof.
Regulators and industry participants will be watching how the integration plays out operationally and whether the combined group can move quickly to launch new products while maintaining the governance and disclosure standards expected of listed fund managers.
For now, both firms say continuity is the priority: 21shares will remain led by its existing team and operate with the same investment objectives that made it a go-to issuer for physically backed crypto ETPs. The acquisition marks one of the most high-profile deals of the year in the crypto asset management space and underscores how traditional structures, ETFs and ETPs are increasingly central to the industry’s path toward broader investor adoption.
