21Shares launched the Bitcoin-and-gold Exchange Traded Product (ETP) BOLD on the London Stock Exchange on January 13, 2026, offering a single vehicle that blends physical Bitcoin and physical gold with a defined risk-management approach. The structure is designed to combine Bitcoin’s upside profile with gold’s defensive characteristics in one tradable wrapper.
The product is positioned as a diversification tool arriving as the UK market opens to a broader set of crypto-linked ETPs after regulatory changes in late 2025. The timing matters because the London listing comes into a market environment where professional access to Bitcoin ETPs has recently expanded.
🚨BREAKING
The 21Shares Bitcoin and Gold ETP (BOLD) has listed on the London Stock Exchange, 13 January 2026.
Charlie Morris, ByteTree Founder and Creator of BOLD, commented:
"This listing on the London Stock Exchange is another significant milestone for BOLD having already… pic.twitter.com/8dYGNcq6XU
— ByteTree (@ByteTree) January 13, 2026
How BOLD balances Bitcoin and gold
BOLD uses a rules-based, monthly rebalancing mechanism that tilts toward the asset with lower historical volatility to equalize risk contribution between Bitcoin and gold. The intent is to avoid a static 50/50 split and instead keep risk exposure more balanced as volatility regimes change.
The ETP is physically backed, with gold custodied by JP Morgan and Bitcoin custody provided by Anchorage Digital Bank N.A. and Copper Technologies (Switzerland) AG. The custody stack is explicitly third-party, which means operational performance depends on external custody and settlement infrastructure.
On the London Stock Exchange, the listing is available under BOLD (GBP) and BOLU (USD), with an annual management fee of 0.65%. As of January 12, 2026, assets under management were reported at $40.1 million and the 3-year Sharpe ratio at 1.79.
Track record, competitive context, and risk framing
BOLD first began trading in Switzerland in April 2022, and through the end of 2025 it delivered a total return of 122.5% in GBP terms. Over the same period, the figures cited were 111.3% for Bitcoin and 113.0% for gold, positioning BOLD as ahead of each standalone return in that window. The benchmark index tied to the product was also cited as having returned 450.3% since the late-2017 Bitcoin peak.
The London listing follows the UK regulator’s October 2025 easing of restrictions on Bitcoin ETPs for professional investors, and it lands during a crowded launch window that included major asset managers introducing single-asset crypto ETPs. That competitive backdrop makes BOLD’s rules-based rebalancing the core differentiator that will be tested under real flow and fee pressure.
Investment risks remain material, including crypto volatility and tail risk, custodial and operational dependency on third-party providers, and foreign-exchange exposure between the GBP and USD share classes. Holdings are not protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and are not eligible for redress via the Financial Ombudsman Service, so capital loss remains a real possibility in extreme scenarios.
From here, attention shifts to how BOLD trades on the LSE and how it compares with single-asset Bitcoin and gold products on flows and performance dispersion. Initial fund flows and relative risk-adjusted outcomes will be the practical test of whether a volatility-weighted dual-asset structure delivers durable portfolio value.
