21Shares US LLC disclosed on July 7, 2026 that it is terminating the pricing benchmark licensing agreements for six of its crypto exchange-traded funds. The sponsor detailed the switch in six separate Securities Exchange filings with the SEC.
Key Takeaways
- 21Shares is terminating CF Benchmarks pricing agreements across six ETFs tied to Ethereum, Dogecoin, Solana, Sui, XRP, and Polkadot.
- The termination becomes effective August 31, 2026, following the notice the sponsor gave CF Benchmarks the prior month.
- 21Shares intends to enter into a licensing agreement with FTSE International Limited on or about August 24, 2026 to supply index data for the same six trusts, a company incorporated and registered in England and unaffiliated with the sponsor.
- The switch changes only the third-party data feed each fund uses to calculate the trust’s net asset value, not the ETFs’ tickers or Nasdaq Stock Market listing venues.
- Each fund is its own SEC registrant under SEC crypto enforcement data rules, so the sponsor’s Item 1.02 Filing on the Materiality of the benchmark switch had to be made six separate times, not once.
What Happened?
21Shares US LLC, sponsor of six separate crypto ETF trusts, provided notice to CF Benchmarks Ltd. of the termination of the licensing agreement between the sponsor and CF Benchmarks covering each fund’s pricing benchmark. The affected trusts are the Ethereum ETF known as TETH, the Dogecoin ETF (TDOG), the Solana ETF (TSOL), the Sui ETF (TSUI), the XRP ETF (TOXR), and the Polkadot ETF (TDOT).
Each trust had relied on a distinct CME CF benchmark for its asset. TETH used the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, New York Variant, TDOG used the CF Dogecoin-Dollar US Settlement Price Index, and TSOL used the CME CF Solana-Dollar Reference Rate, New York Variant. TSUI used the CME CF Sui, Dollar Reference Rate, New York Variant, TOXR used the CME CF XRP, Dollar Reference Rate, New York Variant, and TDOT used the CME CF Polkadot, Dollar Reference Rate, New York Variant.
Each of these rates is calculated and administered by CF Benchmarks and is used to value the trust’s shares on a daily basis and to calculate the trust’s net asset value. 21Shares has elected to terminate the pricing benchmark licensing agreement pursuant to its terms in connection with its broader transition to a new benchmark provider.
The sponsor intends to enter into a licensing agreement with FTSE International Limited whereby FTSE will provide each of the sponsor, the trust, and their affiliates a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub-licensable, perpetual, worldwide license to access, view and use FTSE index data to develop, calculate, and support each fund.
Why Six Filings, Not One?
The switch reached investors as six separate Item 1.02 disclosures rather than one consolidated notice, because each 21Shares crypto ETF is its own SEC registrant, not a share class of one umbrella fund. TETH continues trading on Cboe BZX Exchange, TDOG and TSUI on Nasdaq, TSOL and TOXR on Cboe BZX, and TDOT on Nasdaq, six distinct listings across two exchanges. Each fund’s own filing, not a shared one, is the only route the sponsor has to disclose an identical decision six times over.
That mechanical redundancy is the clearest evidence of how compliance scales for a multi-fund crypto ETF sponsor: every new asset 21Shares lists is a new registrant, so a single vendor decision generates six filings, six clocks, and six chances for a filing gap, rather than one consolidated notice covering the whole shelf.
A Mandatory Disclosure, Not a Press Release
Item 1.02 flags the termination of a material definitive agreement. It is a disclosure trigger the sponsor and its counsel invoke only when an agreement’s end is judged material, not a voluntary marketing update. The pricing benchmark is used to value the trust’s shares on a daily basis and to calculate the trust’s net asset value, which is precisely why losing it counts as material even though the fund’s ticker, exchange listing, and share structure are untouched.
Each license, the outgoing CF Benchmarks one and the incoming FTSE one, is structured as non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sub-licensable, perpetual, and worldwide, with a one-year initial term that automatically renews for successive one-year periods unless terminated. The outgoing CF Benchmarks agreement notably ran through a sub-licensing arrangement between the sponsor and each trust.
The incoming FTSE description does not repeat that structure, since FTSE licenses its index data to the sponsor, trust, and affiliates directly. The incoming FTSE agreement is also expected to begin roughly a week before the outgoing license lapses, giving 21Shares a short overlap window rather than a hard cutover gap.
Why FTSE Over CF Benchmarks?
The six terminated agreements spanned six different named benchmarks, one per asset, all administered by CF Benchmarks. Consolidating onto FTSE International Limited, a subsidiary of FTSE Russell and ultimately the London Stock Exchange Group, lets 21Shares source FTSE index data for all six crypto asset classes from a single index house instead of six separate CME CF benchmark licenses. FTSE Russell already licenses index data across decentralized finance markets and traditional equity benchmarks, giving 21Shares a provider with infrastructure spanning both worlds, distinct from CF Benchmarks’ crypto-specific reference-rate franchise built originally with CME Group.
CoinLaw’s Takeaway
This benchmark swap is a back-office change disclosed six times over, not a signal about the underlying assets. Holders of TETH, TDOG, TSOL, TSUI, TOXR, and TDOT see no change to ticker, exchange listing, or share structure, since only the index methodology feeding each fund’s daily NAV moves from CF Benchmarks to FTSE.
The pattern worth watching is consolidation, of index providers and of the six-filing compliance overhead that comes with running separately chartered registrants under one sponsor. 21Shares is entrusting a single index provider with pricing six distinct crypto assets rather than maintaining a benchmark-by-benchmark relationship with CF Benchmarks, a structure that likely simplifies vendor management as the sponsor’s product suite grows. Investors should treat this as a methodology transparency item to monitor in each fund’s next prospectus supplement, not as a reason to reassess a position.
