ETHC
Overview
The 21shares Ethereum Core Staking ETP is a physically backed exchange-traded product (ETP) that provides Ethereum (ETH) exposure through a standard investment account without the need to buy, store, or manage Ethereum directly. The product stakes a portion of its Ethereum holdings and reinvests staking rewards to compound performance. The product is identified on investment platforms by its ticker: ETHC. ETHC is 100% physically backed by Ethereum held in cold storage with institutional custodians BitGo and Coinbase Custody. Because ETHC holds Ethereum directly, its value reflects ETH's price adjusted for the 0.10% annual product fee. The product also receives staking rewards earned from Ethereum network validation, which are reinvested daily into ETHC, increasing the amount of ETH each NAV unit represents over time.
The 21shares Ethereum Core Staking ETP is a physically backed exchange-traded product (ETP) that provides Ethereum (ETH) exposure through a standard investment account without the need to buy, store, or manage Ethereum directly. The product stakes a portion of its Ethereum holdings and reinvests staking rewards to compound performance. The product is identified on investment platforms by its ticker: ETHC.
ETHC is 100% physically backed by Ethereum held in cold storage with institutional custodians BitGo and Coinbase Custody.
Because ETHC holds Ethereum directly, its value reflects ETH's price adjusted for the 0.10% annual product fee. The product also receives staking rewards earned from Ethereum network validation, which are reinvested daily into ETHC, increasing the amount of ETH each NAV unit represents over time.
Why invest
A blockchain with utility
A common criticism of blockchain technology is that it lacks usage. The evidence for Ethereum suggests otherwise. Ethereum has almost 10 million active users each month1, with more than 3,000 decentralized applications built on the network2 by more than 7,000 monthly active developers3. The network has generated over $13 billion in protocol revenue since 20211. Some investors view this depth of onchain activity as evidence of a network with structural adoption rather than speculative usage alone.
Usage metrics do not guarantee investment value, however. ETH's price has shown no consistent short-term relationship with protocol revenue or active address counts. Investors in ETH are exposed to significant price volatility regardless of underlying network performance.
Engine of the Web3 economy
Ethereum secures the largest share of total value locked (TVL) across decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and onchain applications4 thanks to smart contracts on Ethereum enable anyone to build and deploy decentralized applications without intermediaries. Some investors view Ethereum's position as the largest settlement layer for Web3 activity as a structural advantage with long-term implications for the value of ETH as the network's native payment token.
Institutional innovation
Institutions have started to move financial activity on-chain. BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan are among the institutions actively deploying tokenized funds and stablecoins on the Ethereum network5,6. Some investors view ETH's role in settling these institutional deployments as a potential long-term driver of demand for the token, representing a move beyond developer and crypto-native users toward broader institutional adoption.
Why access Ethereum through an ETP?
For investors who have decided they want Ethereum exposure, the ETP structure addresses the main practical barrier of direct purchase: complexity.
Buying Ethereum directly requires opening a separate crypto exchange account, managing custody of the ETH, and in some cases handling private keys. Losing or mismanaging private keys means losing access to the Ethereum permanently. For a position within a broader investment portfolio, this operational complexity may not be proportionate to the size of the allocation.
ETHC trades through the same brokerage account an investor already uses for equities or other funds. There is no separate crypto account to open and no private keys to manage.
Footnotes
- Token Terminal, September 2026 https://tokenterminal.com/explorer/projects/ethereum
- DappRadar, September 2026 https://dappradar.com/rankings/chains
- Electric Capital Developer Report, September 2026 https://www.developerreport.com/ecosystems/ethereum
- DeFiLlama Chain Overview, September 2026 https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum
- McKinsey and Company, July 21, 2025 https://www.mckinsey.com.br/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-stable-door-opens-how-tokenized-cash-enables-next-gen-payments
- DeFiLlama Digital Asset Treasuries, September 2025 https://defillama.com/digital-asset-treasuries/ethereum
A blockchain with utility
A common criticism of blockchain technology is that it lacks usage. The evidence for Ethereum suggests otherwise. Ethereum has almost 10 million active users each month1, with more than 3,000 decentralized applications built on the network2 by more than 7,000 monthly active developers3. The network has generated over $13 billion in protocol revenue since 20211. Some investors view this depth of onchain activity as evidence of a network with structural adoption rather than speculative usage alone.
Usage metrics do not guarantee investment value, however. ETH's price has shown no consistent short-term relationship with protocol revenue or active address counts. Investors in ETH are exposed to significant price volatility regardless of underlying network performance.
Engine of the Web3 economy
Ethereum secures the largest share of total value locked (TVL) across decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and onchain applications4 thanks to smart contracts on Ethereum enable anyone to build and deploy decentralized applications without intermediaries. Some investors view Ethereum's position as the largest settlement layer for Web3 activity as a structural advantage with long-term implications for the value of ETH as the network's native payment token.
Institutional innovation
Institutions have started to move financial activity on-chain. BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan are among the institutions actively deploying tokenized funds and stablecoins on the Ethereum network5,6. Some investors view ETH's role in settling these institutional deployments as a potential long-term driver of demand for the token, representing a move beyond developer and crypto-native users toward broader institutional adoption.
Why access Ethereum through an ETP?
For investors who have decided they want Ethereum exposure, the ETP structure addresses the main practical barrier of direct purchase: complexity.
Buying Ethereum directly requires opening a separate crypto exchange account, managing custody of the ETH, and in some cases handling private keys. Losing or mismanaging private keys means losing access to the Ethereum permanently. For a position within a broader investment portfolio, this operational complexity may not be proportionate to the size of the allocation.
ETHC trades through the same brokerage account an investor already uses for equities or other funds. There is no separate crypto account to open and no private keys to manage.
What are the risks of investing in ETHC? ETHC is directly exposed to Ethereum's price, which can be extremely volatile; investors can lose some or all of their invested amount. Beyond price risk, ETHC carries staking-specific risks: a portion of the ETH is locked with validators during the staking period and cannot be immediately sold; and staking reward rates are variable and may fall to zero.
Footnotes
- Token Terminal, September 2026 https://tokenterminal.com/explorer/projects/ethereum
- DappRadar, September 2026 https://dappradar.com/rankings/chains
- Electric Capital Developer Report, September 2026 https://www.developerreport.com/ecosystems/ethereum
- DeFiLlama Chain Overview, September 2026 https://defillama.com/chain/ethereum
- McKinsey and Company, July 21, 2025 https://www.mckinsey.com.br/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-stable-door-opens-how-tokenized-cash-enables-next-gen-payments
- DeFiLlama Digital Asset Treasuries, September 2025 https://defillama.com/digital-asset-treasuries/ethereum
Commitment to the network
Earn protocol rewards
Distributed to shareholders
Staking rewards
Underlying Assets
Performance
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of current or future results.
Key Information
Service Providers
Tickers
Frequently asked questions
No. Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are not available to UK retail investors. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approved Ethereum exchange-traded products (ETPs) listed on UK exchanges for UK retail investors in 2025. While ETPs and ETFs are different legal structures, the buying and holding experience as an investor is no different.
21shares Ethereum Core Staking ETP (ETHC) has an annual product fee: 0.10%.
HMRC ruled that from April 2026 onwards, crypto ETPs are to be available only within Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs), not regular stocks and shares ISAs.
ETHC can be held within a self-invested personal pension (SIPP), but not all SIPP providers have added them to their platforms. Contact your pension provider directly to confirm eligibility before investing.
ETHC is available through a number of UK investment platforms, including Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Revolut, Interactive Brokers, Stratiphy, Aviva, Saxo, Trading212 and Interactive Investor. Investment platforms offering ETHC
ETP (exchange-traded product) is an umbrella term covering several types of exchange-traded structure. ETNs (exchange-traded note) and ETFs (exchange-traded fund) are both types of ETP. Crypto exchange-traded products available in the UK are structured as ETNs. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) refers to them specifically as “crypto-backed exchange-traded notes” (cETNs). In practice, “ETP” and “ETN” are often used interchangeably to describe this category of product, but cETN is the more precise UK regulatory term. The full legal structure is set out in the Final Terms and Key Information Document (KID).
The main differences are custody, account type, and ownership. With Ethereum ETPs, the underlying Ethereum is held by an institutional-grade custodian and the product trades through a standard brokerage account: no separate crypto account needed, no private key management required. Buying Ethereum directly means holding it through a crypto exchange or managing it personally, outside a standard investment account.
ETHC accrues Ethereum staking rewards to its NAV daily. A portion of the fund's ETH holdings is committed to Ethereum validators, which help secure and validate the network and earn protocol rewards in return. Only a portion of the total ETH held is staked at any time, to maintain sufficient liquidity for redemptions; the proportion depends on fund size, the number of days required to unstake assets, and market conditions. Rewards earned are reinvested into ETHC's NAV through the coin entitlement, meaning each unit of ETHC represents a slightly larger amount of ETH over time as rewards accrue.
Yes. ETHC is 100% physically backed by Ethereum held in cold storage with two institutional custodians: BitGo and Coinbase Custody. The product holds Ethereum directly as the underlying asset and does not use derivatives or synthetic structures to replicate ETH's price.
BitGo and Coinbase Custody serve as custodians for ETHC's Ethereum holdings. Both hold the underlying ETH in cold storage as part of the product's institutional custody structure.
ETHC is directly exposed to Ethereum's price, which can be extremely volatile; investors can lose some or all of their invested amount. Beyond price risk, ETHC carries staking-specific risks: a portion of the ETH is locked with validators during the staking period and cannot be immediately sold; and staking reward rates are variable and may fall to zero.
How to invest
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Underlying Assets
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