State Street and Galaxy Digital team up to launch active crypto ETF

State Street Global Advisors, one of the world's largest investment managers, has partnered with Galaxy Asset Management to launch exchange-traded funds that provide exposure to crypto companies, according to its announcement on Wednesday.

According to SSGA’s application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the new fund is named the SSGA Active Trust. The application is still pending approval from the regulator.

The fund plans to invest in crypto companies’ equity securities, crypto futures ETFs and contracts and spot crypto ETPs, according to the registration filing . Its scope of crypto companies include blockchain software developers, bitcoin miners, exchanges and crypto payment processors.

The companies identified a need for such a product as it saw rising demand for investment vehicles that provide exposure to the industry beyond just pure spot bitcoin, the press release said .

State Street Bank and Trust is expected to handle the administrative and accounting tasks for the new digital asset ETFs, while Galaxy will manage the day-to-day operations of the products. Galaxy Asset Management’s affiliate Galaxy Digital already operates a spot bitcoin ETF jointly with Invesco. 

“We believe that the digital assets landscape is so much more than the single crypto components and that crypto native companies are best equipped to understand that ecosystem and its correlation with financial markets,” said Anna Paglia, chief business officer at SSGA.

SSGA, which launched its first listed ETF in 1993, managed over $4.3 trillion in assets as of March this year, while digital asset-focused Galaxy oversees around $6.2 billion in assets, according to the release.