21Shares Bitcoin and Gold exchange-traded product, branded BOLD, began trading on the London Stock Exchange, offering UK investors regulated access to a single, physically backed vehicle that merges Bitcoin and physical gold exposure.
The ETP lists under tickers BOLD (GBP) and BOLU (USD), charges a 0.65% annual fee and reported roughly $40.1 million in assets under management. Those operational details position BOLD as a compact but fully institutional-style product now available on a major UK exchange.
BOLD is 100% physically backed and uses institutional custodians to segregate counterparty risk, according to the issuer. Gold holdings are custodied by JP Morgan, while Bitcoin is held with Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. and Copper Technologies (Switzerland) AG. The custody arrangement signals a familiar, bank-grade custody model for the gold component and specialist institutional custody for on-chain assets.
Instead of a static capital split, the ETP deploys a rules-based, risk-weighted approach developed with ByteTree Asset Management. Monthly rebalances use 360-day inverse historical volatility to tilt weight toward the less volatile asset, aiming for equal risk contribution between Bitcoin and gold. The mechanism systematically trims winners and adds to laggards to smooth returns on a risk-adjusted basis.
Performance record, fees and market context
Since its initial launch on the SIX Swiss Exchange on April 27, 2022, BOLD reported a cumulative return of 122.5% in GBP terms through the end of 2025, inclusive of fees, according to the firm. Over the same April 2022–December 2025 window, Bitcoin returned 111.3% and gold returned 113.0% in the same terms, illustrating that BOLD’s dynamic strategy outpaced both assets individually over that period.
The issuer cited a historical benefit from monthly rebalancing that contributed an average of 5–7% in excess annual returns while tempering volatility. The ETP reported a three-year Sharpe ratio of 1.79, a commonly used gauge of risk-adjusted performance that indicates relatively strong returns per unit of risk taken.
The listing arrives at a moment of regulatory change: the FCA’s relaxation of its previous restrictions in October 2025 enabled broader retail participation in exchange-traded crypto products.
Short term, market attention will focus on post-listing flows and whether retail demand in the UK mirrors the product’s Swiss performance. Over the medium term, investors will test whether the monthly risk-weighted rebalancing continues to deliver the historical excess returns and the smoother volatility profile the fund cites.
