21Shares

Ophelia Snyder and Hany Rashwan founded the company in July 2018 with the goal of making crypto assets accessible to everyone; it was incorporated in Zug, Switzerland, and was originally named Amun AG.⁠[1][2][2]

The pre-seed investor Boost VC invested in the company in 2018, and its website portfolio lists “21 Shares” in Zurich. In its tenth-anniversary announcement in September 2022, Boost VC named 21Shares, together with Unstoppable DomainsUnstoppable DomainsUnstoppable Domains is a domain name company founded in 2018 by Matthew Gould and others. It first became known for blockchain-based Web3 domains such as .crypto, .nft, and .wallet and reached a valuation of $1 billion in 2022; after becoming an ICANN-accredited registrar in 2024, it shifted its business focus to traditional DNS domain registration and trading.Open the full entry and Nifty GatewayNifty GatewayNifty Gateway was an American non-fungible token (NFT) digital art platform acquired by the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini in November 2019. Known for curated, time-limited drops and for allowing purchases in U.S. dollars and by credit card, the platform recorded more than $300 million in sales during the 2021 NFT boom and closed in 2026.Open the full entry, as companies that had grown from the pre-seed stage to $1 billion valuations in the previous 12 months; in his endorsement, Rashwan said that Adam Draper and Brayton Williams had committed to invest before the company was even incorporated.⁠[3][3][4][4][4]

In November 2018, the company launched the crypto asset ETP “HODL” on the SIX Swiss Exchange. In February 2019, the company launched a Bitcoin ETP (ABTC) on the same exchange.⁠[1][1][1]

In June 2019, the company launched Onyx, its proprietary end-to-end operating system, to support the operation of more than 30 ETPs, and later also used it to issue and operate crypto ETPs for third parties. In November of that year, the company listed its first product on BX Swiss and launched a crypto asset staking ETP (AXTZ).⁠[1][5][1][1]

Effective March 2, 2020, the company and its range of ETPs were renamed from Amun to 21Shares, a name taken from Bitcoin’s maximum supply of 21 million coins; Rashwan was chief executive officer at the time. In the week before the name change was announced, the company launched a short Bitcoin ETP on Boerse Stuttgart in Germany, bringing its product line to 11 crypto ETPs.⁠[2][2][2][2][2][2]

In June of that year, the company listed its first product, AETH, on Euronext Amsterdam and Paris.⁠[1][1]

The company announced the formation of a parent company, 21.co, and a $25 million funding round led by Marshall Wace at a $2 billion valuation, with participation from Collab Currency, Valor Equity Partners, and others; it was the company’s first funding round in two years. The company said it had ended 2021 at a nine-figure annualized revenue run rate and that its assets under management had peaked at about $3 billion in November 2021; in the year since September 2021, it recorded $650 million in net new assets and grew its headcount by 75%.⁠[5][5][5][5][5][5][5][5]

In June of that year, the company launched its 30th product, CBTC, on the SIX Swiss Exchange, and in October it listed its first product on Nasdaq Dubai.⁠[1][1][1][1]

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved, on an accelerated basis, the listing of 11 spot Bitcoin trust products on NYSE Arca, Nasdaq, and Cboe BZX, including the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ticker ARKB), which listed on Cboe BZX. On May 23 of that year, the SEC approved rule changes for listing Ethereum ETPs, including the ARK 21Shares Ethereum ETF.⁠[6][6][6][6][6][7][8][8]

In January of that year, the company opened a London office; in May, its Bitcoin and Ethereum ETNs were listed on the London Stock Exchange for professional investors in the United Kingdom.⁠[1][1]

The parent company 21.co announced that former abrdn executives Russell Barlow, Duncan Moir, and Edel Bashir would become chief executive officer, president, and chief operating officer of 21Shares, respectively; 21.co would split into two business units, 21Shares and 21.co Technologies, and the two co-founders would become co-chairs of 21Shares and, after a transition period, focus on 21.co Technologies. Effective March 1, 2025, Barlow became chairman and chief executive officer of 21Shares AG, and Rashwan and Snyder resigned as directors.⁠[9][9][9][9][9][10][10][10]

FalconX announced that it had agreed to acquire the company. As of September 30, 2025, the company managed more than $11 billion in assets across 55 exchange-listed products. The two founders said that over eight years the company had grown its assets under management from zero to more than $11 billion. FalconX said that after completion the company would remain led by Barlow and independently managed under FalconX, and that no changes were planned to the construction or investment objectives of its existing ETPs in Europe or ETFs in the United States.⁠[7][7][7][7][7]

FalconX announced the completion of the acquisition, its latest deal of 2025 after acquiring the crypto derivatives trading firm Arbelos Markets and taking a majority stake in Monarq Asset Management.⁠[11][11][11]

As of October 2026, the company is a subsidiary of FalconX with 89 employees and more than $5 billion in assets under management; it has issued more than 50 crypto ETPs, listed on more than 10 exchanges. Its U.S. product line includes ARKB and single-asset ETFs on Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, Hyperliquid, and others, as well as index, leveraged, and actively managed products. The legal entity 21Shares AG has its registered office at Pelikanstrasse 37, Zurich.⁠[1][1][7][7][7][7][7][7][7][10]

21Shares: Official website: https://www.21shares.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

FalconX: Official website: https://www.falconx.io/ (opens in a new window).⁠[11]

X: Public account: https://x.com/21shares (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/21shares (opens in a new window)⁠[12]

YouTube: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/@21shares (opens in a new window)⁠[12]