NCIQ vs TXBC

NCIQAHashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF

TXBCC21Shares FTSE Crypto 10 ex-BTC Index ETF

In short

NCIQ A passive basket of the digital assets in a Nasdaq index, run at 0.25% a year while the typical multi-coin crypto fund charges more than double that. It tracks the index and makes no attempt to beat it.

TXBC Most crypto baskets are really a bitcoin fund with sprinkles. TXBC removes bitcoin outright and tracks FTSE's next 10 coins by market cap, in a 1940 Act ETF wrapper crypto rarely gets. Fee: 1.34%, no waiver.

Stated mandate

NCIQ The Trust seeks to match the daily price changes of its reference index, after expenses and liabilities, by investing in the index's digital-asset constituents. It uses a passive strategy and does not seek to outperform the index.

TXBC The Fund seeks to track the price performance of the FTSE Crypto 10 ex Bitcoin Select Index before fees and expenses. It uses a passive indexing strategy and does not seek to outperform the Index.

Why people hold it

• NCIQ Charges 0.25% a year, well under half the 0.59% median for multi-coin crypto baskets such as GDLC and KRYP.
• Narrow, literal mandate: match the daily moves of the Nasdaq CME Crypto Settlement Price Index after expenses, no outperformance attempt. It has hewed closely to that job.
• One ticker buys the whole index basket, so no exchange accounts, wallets or self-custody to manage.

• TXBC The whole point is the subtraction: it tracks the FTSE Crypto 10 ex Bitcoin Select Index, so ether and the rest of the field set the pace instead of trailing behind BTC's gravity.21shares.com
• One of the first crypto index ETFs to launch under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the framework behind conventional ETFs rather than the commodity-trust route.cbs42.com
• A literal mandate: 21Shares states it tracks the index and does not seek to outperform it. No manager hand-picking tokens, no drift from what the name promises.21shares.com

Worth knowing

• NCIQ Structured as a trust rather than a registered fund, so the protections investors get under the Investment Company Act do not apply here.
• Generally pays no cash distributions, so any return has to come from price moves alone.
• Crypto prices swing hard, and with a January 2025 launch the live track record is still short.

• TXBC At 1.34% with no fee waiver in place, it sits above the typical cost in its peer group: Franklin's EZPZ charges 0.19%, Grayscale's GDLC 0.59%, Bitwise's BITW 0.75%.
• Small and thinly traded next to the category's heavyweights, so spreads and limit orders carry more weight here.
• Exposure comes through crypto ETPs and derivatives rather than coins held directly, and the fund is non-diversified with no distributions paid.

Full NCIQ profile⁠

Full TXBC profile⁠