Swiss-based crypto asset manager 21shares, has hired abrdn’s Russell Barlow to become CEO of 21shares, and his colleague Duncan Moir as President. abrdn is one of the largest asset managers in the UK with almost $650 billion in assets under management (AUM). 21.co also announced a restructuring, splitting off its technology arm into a separate firm 21.co Technologies, but under the 21.co holding company.
21Shares AUM have grown by two thirds since the middle of the year, now surpassing $10 billion. That’s partly reflected in the run up of crypto prices during that period.
The 21.co founders, Hany Rashwan and Ophelia Snyder, will co-Chair 21Shares and run the technology firm on a day-to-day basis.
Barlow was previously Global Head of Alternative and Multi-Asset Investments at abrdn, and responsible for more than $200bn in assets. Moir led the asset manager’s crypto and blockchain strategy. A third abrdn hire is Edel Bashir who will become COO. She was previously COO for Alternative and Multi-Asset Investments at abrdn.
Under their leadership, abrdn made a handful of high profile moves in the digital asset space. In 2022 abrdn invested in Archax, a UK regulated exchange, prior to its launch. It was a strategic investment, with Archax subsequently tokenizing some abrdn funds. A couple of months later abrdn bought a seat on the governing council of Hedera, the public DLT where large enterprises like IBM, Google and Nomura control the governing council and the nodes with write permissions (for now).
21Shares also internally promoted Andres Valencia to become EVP of Investment Management.
“This realignment allows us to dedicate even more energy to advancing next-generation products like tokenization, on-chain solutions, and tools that bridge the gap between traditional finance and blockchain,” said Ophelia Snyder, co-founder of 21Shares.
Meanwhile, 21Shares’ largest investment product is the US-based ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF which has assets under management (AUM) of $4.7 billion. While it has seven products Stateside, the other six are small. In Europe it has 49 ETPs with AUM of $5.2 billion, led by a Solana Staking ETP with AUM of $1.4 billion. Nine of the 49 ETPs have more than $100 million in assets. Many products are listed on multiple European stock exchanges.
