21Shares Launches DYDX Fund as Institutions Eye Crypto Derivatives Market

Swiss asset manager 21Shares has launched a new exchange-traded product, or ETP, tied to dYdX’s native token, DYDX. The firms said this will extend regulated access to one of the largest decentralized derivatives protocols.

The product, backed by DYDX tokens held with custodians, began trading this week with support from the dYdX Treasury subDAO, through its operator kpk, according to a press release shared with Decrypt.

Crypto ETPs let investors buy and sell exposure to digital assets on stock exchanges. In Europe they are usually issued as notes backed one-to-one by the underlying tokens, rather than pooled funds.

dYdX has already settled more than $1.4 trillion in cumulative trading volume across 230 perpetual markets, but institutional participation has been limited by custody, compliance, and operational barriers.

The product follows 21Shares’ earlier DeFi-focused ETPs, including Aave, ChainLink and Uniswap products launched in 2022.

“The 21Shares dYdX ETP is a natural extension to this range” Mandy Chiu, Head of Financial Product Development at 21Shares, told Decrypt.

“It provides institutional-grade access to one of the first decentralized exchanges to offer perpetual futures contracts,” she added.

She said liquidity and efficient pricing will be ensured through market maker Flow Traders, with daily creations and redemptions to keep the product aligned with net asset value.

“Together, DYDX, Uniswap, and Aave represent complementary layers of DeFi infrastructure,” Chiu said. “Our ETP suite is designed to give investors the ability to selectively or holistically allocate to these building blocks.”

DYDX was chosen because it “adds a distinctive dimension” with its focus on decentralized derivatives trading, particularly perpetual futures, an area that has historically been dominated by centralized exchanges, Chiu said.

She said the product reflects “the continued evolution of DeFi,” noting that as decentralized derivatives mature they too can be packaged into transparent, exchange-traded products.

Charles d’Haussy, CEO of the dYdX Foundation, told Decrypt the new product “empowers institutions to harness DYDX’s pioneering technology which redefines the $28 trillion crypto derivatives markets,” while the chain itself remains “fully sovereign and decentralized.”

“It has a similar architecture as the Ethereum ETF which does not facilitate activity on the protocol itself, but offer exposure the protocol token ETH or, for us, $DYDX,” he said.

The chain, he added, remains “fully sovereign and decentralized on its own dedicated chain, with community governance and 50 independent validators.”

21Shares is already the largest issuer of crypto ETPs in Europe, with 48 crypto-ETPs currently available across multiple exchanges.

Recent launches include ETPs tracking Cronos, Aptos, XDC Network, and Sui.