Bitcoin has plunged by 44% from its all-time high in October 2025, either sending skittish speculators running or prompting those bullish with a long-term horizon to dig in and firm up their positions. However, those in the cryptocurrency sphere may be missing out on opportunities if they only focus on the biggest name in digital currency. Even though Bitcoin's sway over the price movements of smaller rivals remains enormous, many competitors—including Ethereum, Solana, and others—no longer always move in lockstep with BTC.
This may be all the more reason for investors to consider broadening the crypto exposure outside of Bitcoin, and it comes at a great time as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the cryptocurrency world are continuing to grow. Last year brought a number of new fund offerings related to alternative digital assets, giving investors an easy way to diversify their cryptocurrency holdings without investing directly. A relatively new trend, multi-coin ETFs attempt to capture a larger slice of the crypto market with a single investment, providing much-needed diversification as tokens may exhibit different types of price movement at the same time.
A "Crypto Index Fund" Holding 10 Tokens At Once
The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index ETF (NYSEARCA: BITW) bills itself as the first "crypto index fund," tracking a portfolio of 10 of the largest cryptocurrencies that are rebalanced monthly and weighted according to market capitalization. Of course, thanks to this weighting, Bitcoin is guaranteed a primary position in the basket and currently accounts for just over three-quarters of the portfolio. Still, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and a handful of other lesser-known coins make up the remainder.
It's true that the smallest six holdings only account for a couple of percent of the overall portfolio for BITW, but the fact alone that this fund offers simultaneous exposure to multiple cryptocurrencies makes it worth watching. It also occasionally trades at a discount relative to its combined Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings, making it even more appealing.
Just a few months old, having launched late in 2025, BITW has a small asset base of around $700 million and equally low trading volume, which may make it most appealing for the time being for investors looking to buy and hold without worrying about tracking which cryptocurrencies may emerge as popular alternatives to BTC and ETH in the future. For the diversification, expect to pay a hefty fee of 2.5%.
A Narrower, But Cheaper, Alternative to BITW
An alternative multi-coin fund providing access to a narrower slice of the crypto market, the Grayscale CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF (NYSEARCA: GDLC) holds just five of the largest cryptocurrencies and is rebalanced quarterly.
Bitcoin again represents about three-quarters of the portfolio, followed by Ethereum, but altcoins, including BNB, XRP, and Solana, collectively account for almost 12% of the basket. This means that GDLC may be helpful for those investors seeking a slightly higher level of exposure to non-BTC and non-ETH coins.
The quarterly rebalancing schedule may not appeal as much to investors wanting to keep up with the very latest trends in cryptocurrencies, although the reality is that Bitcoin and Ethereum are likely to remain the core components of the portfolio for the foreseeable future. Still, GDLC's expense ratio of 0.59% is dramatically lower than BITW's, and investors may be willing to give up some diversification and frequency of rebalancing for a much less expensive fund.
No Bitcoin, No Problem: TXBC Bets on the Rest of Crypto
While both of the funds above lean heavily on Bitcoin, the 21Shares FTSE Crypto 10 ex-BTC Index ETF (NYSEARCA: TXBC) provides an alternative for investors seeking to eliminate BTC's presence in a multi-coin ETF. The fund holds the 10 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding Bitcoin, and adjusts its portfolio quarterly.
As such, Ethereum becomes the largest position in TXBC's portfolio, occupying just under half. Binance Coin, XRP, and Solana all get fairly hefty weightings of around 10% or more. The remaining coins have much smaller allocations, but still generally larger than those of BITW above.
TXBC's lack of reliance on Bitcoin means that its performance may be unique relative to Bitcoin-focused funds. While the fund has so far fallen by about a third since launching in November 2025, investors expecting a return of the crypto rally at some point in the future may find the TXBC is a good way to balance cryptocurrency exposure in addition to a separate Bitcoin or Bitcoin-focused ETF position. Given its linking to an underlying index, TXBC is able to maintain a fairly modest expense ratio of 0.65%.
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The article "Branch Out With These Multi-Coin Crypto ETFs" first appeared on MarketBeat.
