T. Rowe Price Files for Actively Managed Crypto ETF Targeting 5–15 Digital Assets

Legacy Asset Manager Steps Into Crypto With $1.8 Trillion AUM and Multi-Coin Exposure Strategy

TL;DR

• T. Rowe Price, managing about $1.8 trillion AUM, filed an SEC registration for its first actively managed crypto ETF.
• The ETF will invest in 5–15 digital assets—including BTC, ETH, SOL, DOGE, and SHIB—aiming to outperform the FTSE Crypto US Listed Index.
• Analysts see the move as a signal of accelerating institutional adoption, as legacy asset managers enter the crypto ETF arena.

T. Rowe Price has officially entered the digital-asset race with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on October 22, 2025, seeking approval for its first actively managed crypto ETF. The move represents a strategic leap for the 87-year-old Baltimore-based asset manager, which oversees roughly $1.77 trillion to $1.8 trillion in assets under management and has historically been slow to embrace exchange-traded products and digital assets. The proposed fund—tentatively titled the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF—marks its initial foray into cryptocurrency exposure through a regulated vehicle designed to give investors access to price movements across several leading tokens rather than a single-asset structure.

The ETF is structured to be actively managed, with portfolio decisions based on a blend of fundamental, valuation, and momentum factors rather than a passive tracking method. The product will benchmark itself against the FTSE Crypto US Listed Index, a broad indicator of the sector’s performance often used to gauge changes in the overall crypto price index. According to the prospectus, the fund expects to hold between five and fifteen digital currencies that meet specific eligibility criteria—each being a commodity or underlying a futures contract on a designated market such as CME—and trading on exchanges that belong to the Intermarket Surveillance Group.

Assets expected to be included span major and mid-cap coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB), XRP, and Cardano (ADA), among others. The ETF is designed to deliver diversified exposure to the evolving crypto market while targeting performance superior to its index benchmark. T. Rowe Price stated that the fund’s shares “are designed to provide investors with a means of obtaining price exposure to multiple crypto assets, as opposed to direct acquisition, holding, and trading of crypto assets on a peer-to-peer or platform basis.” The registration does not specify a launch date but notes that trading will commence “as soon as practicable” once the SEC declares the statement effective.

The decision comes amid rising competition among institutional managers seeking entry into digital-asset ETFs. Analysts estimate roughly 155 crypto ETP and ETF filings are already in the pipeline, collectively tracking more than 35 different coins, with projections that over 200 products could hit the market within the next year. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Eric Balchunas described the move as “a land rush for this space,” while Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, noted, “T. Rowe Price is the quintessential legacy asset manager… they manage some $1.8 trillion in assets but only entered ETFs in 2020. Now they’re moving into crypto.” Morningstar’s Bryan Armour added that the active strategy “could differentiate them in a crowded market dominated by passive funds.”

Internally, the pivot builds on the firm’s ongoing expansion of its ETF lineup—24 products launched since 2020—and its 2022 appointment of Blue Macellari, a former crypto hedge fund executive, as head of digital asset strategy. The firm’s timing coincides with a more stable regulatory landscape following the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs roughly two years ago. Still, the current federal government shutdown has thinned SEC staffing, potentially delaying review and approval timelines for pending crypto ETF applications.

For institutional investors and traditional portfolios, T. Rowe Price’s move underscores the mainstreaming of digital assets within the broader financial system. By combining active management with multi-coin exposure, the fund aims to deliver regulated access to market-weighted performance while seeking alpha in an increasingly competitive field. The launch highlights how legacy institutions are beginning to treat crypto not as an experiment but as a maturing asset class integrated into the wider coin market cap landscape. The S-1 filing effectively signals that one of Wall Street’s most conservative managers is ready to stake its claim in the next phase of crypto-driven asset management evolution.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.