$1.8 trillion asset manager T. Rowe Price has filed for its first crypto exchange-traded fund with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Founded in 1937, T. Rowe Price is one of the more conservative names in traditional finance, which has now joined a growing list of legacy firms entering the crypto ETF race, according to an S-1 registration statement with the SEC submitted on Oct. 22.

T. Rowe plans to launch an Active Crypto ETF that would mark a historic departure from its historically mutual fund-centric strategy. According to the filing, the fund expects to hold a basket of digital assets deemed eligible under the SEC’s generic listing standards, with the number of assets ranging between five and fifteen.

Unlike single asset ETFs that have largely been the norm so far, this fund will take an active management approach with allocations based on fundamentals, valuation, and momentum rather than just market size.

Assets eligible for inclusion within the fund include Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP, Cardano, Avalanche, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Hedera, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink, Stellar, and Shiba Inu.

T. Rowe’s move into the crypto space came as a surprise to many, but was welcomed by market watchers, especially as the entry of such a traditional institution signals a major vote of confidence in the long-term potential of a market that has seen billions of dollars worth of exits in recent weeks, triggered by macroeconomic headwinds and a broader risk-off sentiment.

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas called the move a “SEMI-SHOCK,” stating that he was not expecting this.

“There’s gonna be land rush for this space too,” Balchunas said.

T. Rowe entered the ETF space in 2020 with a modest range of equity-based funds, and prior to that had largely focused on actively managed mutual funds that catered to long-term investors.

“Point is that legacy asset managers are quickly trying to figure out how to implement some semblance of a crypto strategy. A number of these firms actually missed out on ETF boom. They want to avoid same mistake w/ crypto,” NovaDius Wealth Management President Nate Geraci added.

T. Rowe rethinks crypto stance

Back in 2021, T Rowe’s former CEO, William Stromberg, described crypto as still being in its “early days,” suggesting that while the firm was watching the space closely, it was not yet ready to commit. At the time, Stromberg noted that it would “take years to really unfold,” and that any involvement would need to be measured and deliberate

However, firm officials have since recalibrated their view. At an ETF conference in Las Vegas earlier this year, Dominic Rizzo, who manages the firm’s technology-focused ETF, told Coindesk it was a good time to consider Bitcoin exposure.

T. Rowe’s entry into the crypto space comes right after the SEC loosened its regulatory approach by fast-tracking the crypto ETF approval process. At the same time, the commission is yet to approve any of the multiple altcoin ETF applications for cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Litecoin (LTC), among others.