21Shares, a veteran crypto investment company with more than $11 billion in assets under management (AUM), has announced a strategic partnership with Teucrium, an asset management company focused on commodity and futures ETFs. Through the strategic partnership, 21Shares announced that it has filed two Funds – the 21Shares FTSE Crypto 10 Index ETF and the 21Shares FTSE Crypto 10 ex-BTC Index ETF – with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The 21Shares FTSE Crypto 10 Index ETF intends to track a market-cap-weighted index of the top ten largest crypto assets globally. On the other hand, the 21Shares FTSE Crypto 10 ex-BTC Index ETF tracks a separate FTSE Russell index that excludes Bitcoin.
“Investors are increasingly looking for diversified and easy-to-access ways to participate in the long-term growth of digital assets, and 21Shares aims to provide ETF structures to satisfy this demand, subject to regulatory approval,” Federico Brokate, Head of U.S. Business at 21Shares, noted.
21Shares Focuses on Crypto Tokenization Amid Regulatory Clarity
The two crypto funds by 21Shares tap into tested regulations for securities and tokenization in the United States. For instance, the two funds will be structured under the 1940 Act funds, and offer investors a more familiar taxation.
“The methodology and structure behind our digital asset pricing and indices were developed to give investors strategic allocation tools”, said Kristen Mierzwa, Head of Digital Assets at FTSE Russell.
The tokenization of crypto assets, which is under the jurisdiction of the SEC, will play a crucial role in the mainstream adoption of digital assets by institutional investors. Already, President Donald Trump has signed into law the GENIUS Act after a majority supported it in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) have written a letter to shareholders as the Donald Trump-affiliated parent firm of Truth Social is considering deepening its ties to crypto. In the letter to investors, the firm revealed its plans to pursue an utility token that can help power its broader ecosystem in today’s financial world. This shift by the Trump Media outfit has generated a massive conversation on X.
Truth Social Token: The Justification
In the shareholder letter, the firm reiterated that the reason for the emergence of Truth Social is to create an alternative platform without censorship. To complement this, the firm told shareholders it has Truth+ operational as a streaming platform for home-safe programs.
To create a system to monetize these various platforms, the firm said it is considering launching an utility token. This, it planned to do within a Truth Digital wallet that can be used to pay for Truth+ subscriptions. Over time, the organization said it will create more utility for the token within the Truth Social ecosystem.
The entire Trump family is now closely linked to the crypto ecosystem. From moves that started with Non-Fungible Token (NFT) launches, the President now have deep ties to the broader decentralized Finance (DeFi) world. While the Truth Social move comes with criticism, it has also garnered support from crypto proponents.
Deepening the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) Mission
The big crypto project backed by the Trump family is World Liberty Financial (WLFI). Beyond the WLFI partnership with Justin Sun and other major proponents in crypto, it is also known for the stablecoin USD1.
Notably, the stablecoin is gaining traction with its market capitalization surpassing the $136 million circulating supply benchmark, per data from CoinMarketCap. Notably, USD1 secured DWF Labs funding worth $25 million as the firm expanded to the US earlier this month.
Beyond the stablecoin engagement, the broader Truth Social and Trump family remain deeply-inclined to emerging technologies.
Implication for DeFi and Crypto Regulation
With 100 days in office, President Donald Trump has kept to his campaign promises to the crypto industry. In the past months, the top US market regulators have dropped lawsuits held against crypto industry proponents.
In a major pivot, the Federal Reserve revised its crypto guidelines recently to allow banks engage with the industry. The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission (FDIC) and the OCC have also made this important pivot.
Notably, the Trump family may have critics for engaging with digital currencies. However, the promised regulations have sparked a wait-and-see approach from a few optimistic stakeholders.
US House Financial Services Chairman French Hill has commented on the negative impact that the TRUMP coin has on the proposed crypto legislation. This came as he described the president’s involvement in crypto as a distraction from the work that the US Congress has put into creating a regulatory framework for the industry. French Hill Describes TRUMP Coin as a Distraction From Crypto Legislation According to a Bloomberg report, the US congressman said that President Donald Trump’s involvement in crypto, through the TRUMP coin and other ventures, has complicated the work in Congress, which they have made to pass legislation that has been in the works for years. French Hill explained that the Trump family’s engagement has made the work more complicated because it has distracted those in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, from what they need to do. He noted that they have worked for five years, especially in… Read More at Coingape.com
While the token has not yet been launched, expectations are already swelling that the final unlock could bring in $1 billion to $2 billion, if not more.
“We have reached our deposit cap of $500 million. We are thrilled that 1,100+ wallets participated, with a median deposit amount of ~$35,000. Trillions,” Plasma announced.
Amid the headlines and hype, however, a deeper story is emerging. Concerns extend from whale domination and insider access to a growing sense that token launches are increasingly becoming gated events for the crypto elite.
The numbers show that only a handful of wallets accounted for outsized allocations. More specifically, the top three contributors alone deployed over $100 million collectively.
Perhaps more shocking, one user reportedly paid 39 ETH (approximately $104,871 at current rates of $2,689) in gas fees, which secured them a $10 million USDC allocation.
“This guy spent 100k in gas (230,000 Gwei) to get his deposit in for Plasma,” wrote MonaMoon, the founder of the Duck Frens NFT project.
User pays 39 ETH for a $10 million USDC allocation on Plasma ICO. Source: ManaMoon on X
This illustrates the intensity of FOMO and the lengths participants were willing to go to for early access. Notwithstanding, the frenzy has come at a reputational cost. With whales taking the lion’s share, many are calling this launch anything but fair.
“…it’s an obvious skip for the community…Only 100 wallets with $50 million each… these wallets alone will create an oversubscription of 100x… unfortunately, it’s not a fair launch, even though the price is very attractive,” warned an X user before the raise closed.
Despite offering just 10% of the total XPL token supply in the public sale at a $500 million FDV (fully diluted valuation), retail users were effectively pushed to the sidelines. They will likely only get in later, at 10x to 16x the price.
Critics Slam Plasma’s Tech and Tokenomics- ICO Was a Lockout, Not a Launch
This sharp disparity has some dubbing it a “whale sale,” rather than a launch accessible to the broader community. Further, there may be more than just bad optics at play. Crypto trader Hanzo raised serious red flags, suggesting possible coordinated insider behavior.
Hanzo calls out over 100 wallets, each receiving 48 million USDC, before the token even launched, highlighting that some of these wallets approved token interactions before the token contract went public.
“That means insiders had early access to mint and trade. This wasn’t a surprise launch — it was a private party. Retail wasn’t invited,” he claimed.
The mechanics of the raise also raise questions. Hosted on Sonar/Echo, dubbed by some as “the CoinList of this cycle,” a time-weighted share of vault deposits determined plasma’s deposit period.
Participants had to lock stablecoins on Ethereum, with a minimum 40-day lockup. However, with the deposit cap abruptly raised to $500 million and filled almost instantly, many users were left wondering whether this was ever meant to be an open opportunity.
Even the technology underpinning Plasma has not escaped scrutiny. A user broke down the chain’s architecture and found it lacking.
“Plasma is another L1 chain… It uses a ‘classic’ pBFT consensus layer, with Proof-of-Stake… and Bitcoin as ‘settlement’ by simply publishing state differences… It looks a lot like many alt-L1 EVM forks… It surfs on the Bitcoin “side-chain” marketing campaign and is pushed by influencors.. but I am not convinced at all,” the user noted.
In his view, Plasma’s use of influencers and Bitcoin branding is more marketing veneer than technical substance.
What makes this worse is how well it’s working.
Influencers are hyping it. Retail is showing up.
The liquidity is flowing — right where it needs to.
Still, not everyone agrees. Zaheer from SplitCapital praised the distribution, noting a broad holder distribution with over 1,100 wallets and only one wallet holding $50 million.
“All things considered insanely good distribution of holders for Plasma at $500m total size of deposit. Seeing a ton of folks with smaller amounts on here and only one entity with $50m in a wallet. Well done,” he stated in a post.
According to Zaheer, this contrasts with the typical whale-dominated ICOs and suggests a more inclusive allocation strategy.
Plasma’s ICO serves as a mirror to today’s market mechanics, where speed, size, and for some, connections, often matter more than innovation or accessibility.
Whether Plasma becomes a foundational chain or another cautionary tale will depend on the unlock numbers and how its ecosystem fairs beyond the ICO hype.
(@DeFi_Hanzo)