In a recent opinion piece, Brian Huang, cofounder and CEO of Glider, argues that crypto ETFs fail to capture the full potential of digital assets by limiting ownership rights and utility. He advocates for onchain direct indexing as a superior alternative that preserves control and enables personalization. Huang warns that wrapping next-generation assets in outdated structures hinders innovation in finance.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) revolutionized investing by offering liquid and accessible diversification, but Brian Huang contends they are ill-suited for cryptocurrencies. Published on crypto.news, his piece describes crypto ETFs as 'legacy wrappers' that strip investors of direct ownership, blocking onchain benefits like staking rewards, governance rights, airdrops, and lending opportunities. Investors receive only price exposure, without the utility inherent in holding assets directly.
Huang points out practical limitations: crypto ETFs restrict trading to equity market hours, despite 24/7 spot crypto operations, exposing holders to overnight volatility risks. They also impose high fees—Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF charges 150 basis points, 15 times that of the S&P 500-tracking SPY—and offer no personalization, forcing investors into pre-packaged portfolios that may include unwanted tokens.
In contrast, direct ownership via onchain portfolios allows customizable weights, tax optimization through selective selling, yield strategies, and automated 24/7 rebalancing. High-net-worth individuals already use direct indexing off-chain for similar advantages, but blockchain technology extends this to everyone. Platforms on high-throughput networks like Base or Solana enable near-zero fees and smart contract automation, replacing middlemen while maintaining control.
Huang critiques tokenized ETFs for replicating the wrapper model, limiting liquidity to the token rather than underlying assets like Bitcoin or Ethereum. He notes the global ETF market's growth from $11.5 trillion in 2024 to over $15 trillion in 2025, projected to $30 trillion by 2030, yet urges a shift to onchain solutions. 'ETFs were brilliant for their time... but we’re not living in the past century anymore,' he writes, calling for new tools that leverage existing infrastructure for direct, utility-rich investing.
The Big Three ETF issuers—BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street—control nearly 60% of the $11 trillion market, wielding significant voting power without investor input. Huang, a former trader at XTX Markets and Anchorage Digital with a background in MIT's Bitcoin Project, emphasizes that accessibility should not compromise ownership benefits.
