 
 
Expanding its portfolio of altcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs), 21Shares on Friday rolled out its first Polkadot (DOT) fund to US investors.
The new ETF began trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker TDOT. The fund charged a 0.3% management fee and launched with initial assets of about $11 million.
The ETF is physically backed and 21Shares has real Polkadot tokens (DOT) as the fund’s underlying asset. This structure allows investors to access Polkadot through standard brokerage accounts without the hassle of managing digital wallets or private keys.
“Polkadot is a next-generation blockchain platform designed to connect many independent blockchains into a single shared network,” 21Shares said. “Developers can launch their own purpose-built blockchains on top of Polkadot, often referred to as rollups, that take advantage of shared security, seamless synchronization, and parallel processing to scale.”
The ETF, TDOT, contributes a portion of its Polkadot holdings to the network’s rewards, allowing the fund to earn a skink yield in addition to profiting from price increases.
 
According to Federico Brockate, Global Head of Business Development at 21Shares, the company sees Polkadot (DOT) as a leader in new technologies such as AI and advanced smart contract platforms.
“Polkadot represents one of the most technically advanced blockchain ecosystems in the world and is one of the only platforms designed for multiple blockchains to work together securely and efficiently,” Brockate said.
According to CoinGecko, Polkadot (DOT) is currently trading at $1.52 per token, giving the network an estimated market capitalization of around $2.5 billion. The token is down 97.3% since November 2021, to an all-time low of $54.98, and down nearly 67.6% over the past year.
Eye Altcoin ETFs issuers outside of BTC and ETH
Since Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs were greenlit in the US in 2024, asset managers have quickly flocked to funds that span a number of blockchain networks and crypto ecosystems.
For 21Shares, TDOT is another addition to its growing portfolio of crypto investment products as companies compete to offer exposure beyond the top digital currencies. These offerings include Solana (SOL), XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE) and Chainlink (LINK), highlighting the growing investor appetite for diversified crypto investment options.
In January, 21Shares launched its first DOGE ETF, backed by the Dogecoin Fund. Notably, the 21Shares XRP ETF is the most popular altcoin fund, managing about $174 million in assets, according to the company.
