What started as a simple mission to help his mother invest in crypto has resulted in what is believed to be the largest-ever exit for an Egyptian-founded startup. Hany Rashwan, co-founder of 21.co (the parent company of 21Shares), has sold the crypto ETP issuer to FalconX, a leading digital asset prime broker. The deal was announced late last month.
While Rashwan declined to comment on the transaction’s value, a source familiar with the matter told Enterprise that the deal was valued at just over $1.2 billion.
Quick Facts
- Founder: Egyptian entrepreneur Hany Rashwan.
- The Deal: 21Shares acquired by digital asset broker FalconX.
- Reported Value: Over $1.2 billion.
From a Family Problem to a Global Crypto Powerhouse
The idea for 21Shares (initially named Amun) wasn’t born from a grand vision to build a crypto empire. Instead, it came from a practical problem faced by Rashwan’s mother in Egypt and his co-founder Ophelia Snyder’s mother in Italy. In 2017, both wanted to invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum but found the process of using crypto exchanges and managing private keys too complex and intimidating.
“All we wanted in the beginning was to build a product they could use,” Rashwan explained.
The pair discovered a significant gap in the market for simple, accessible crypto investment products. This led them on a year-and-a-half journey to find a suitable regulatory environment, which they ultimately found in Switzerland. In November 2018, they launched the world’s first physically-backed crypto index product. From that single product designed for two mothers, 21Shares grew into a global leader managing approximately $12 billion in assets across more than 50 products.
Simplifying Crypto for Mainstream Investors
21Shares’ core function is to make crypto investing feel like a traditional financial transaction. It packages digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum into familiar financial instruments, similar to a stock or an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF).
“We put each digital asset into a traditional financial product… that anyone can buy through their bank or brokerage account, just as if they were buying Apple or Nvidia stock,” Rashwan noted.
This approach effectively removes the technical barriers to entry, allowing a broader base of investors to gain exposure to the crypto market without needing to navigate digital wallets or exchanges directly.
The Founder-Led Path to Profitability
In a venture capital-heavy environment, 21Shares charted a different course. The company was founder-controlled and profitable for seven of its eight years. According to Rashwan, this was a result of necessity rather than design.
When they launched, the concept was met with skepticism from both crypto purists and traditional finance professionals. Crypto enthusiasts saw ETPs as a betrayal of decentralization, while the broader market was still wary of the asset class. This made securing early-stage funding difficult, particularly as a Swiss-based company outside the typical Silicon Valley sphere.
“There just weren’t that many investors willing to fund us at the beginning,” Rashwan said. “We had to be a profitable company to survive.”
By the time investors recognized the opportunity, 21Shares was already generating nine-figure revenues and was too large for early-stage VCs. This forced discipline allowed the founders to retain control and grow the business without external pressure.
The Logic Behind the Billion-Dollar Exit
The decision to sell was not driven by investor pressure but by a strategic assessment of the company’s future. Having grown from zero to over $10 billion in assets under management, Rashwan recognized that the next phase of growth—scaling to $50 billion or $100 billion—required a different skillset focused on institutional clients.
“I wasn’t super keen on being an asset manager chasing institutional clients all day,” he admitted. “I’m still far more excited by technology than finance.”
After stepping back from daily operations, Rashwan and Snyder considered whether their large ownership stakes were the best structure for the company’s next chapter. They sought a partner that could accelerate its institutional push, leading to the acquisition by FalconX. The key negotiating strength for 21Shares was its profitability.
“Our key negotiating leverage was that we did not need to sell,” Rashwan stated. “This gave us a lot of opportunity to vet all interested parties and see who would be the right buyer.”
Egyptian Roots, Global Strategy
Rashwan, who was born in Egypt before building ventures in the US and Switzerland, credits his unique strategic approach to his background. He identifies his Egyptian heritage as a core driver of his long-term thinking and innovative problem-solving.
“My Egyptian-ness shows up in interesting ways,” he explained. “The first is my innate tendency to think long-term… Egypt forces you to think in centuries and millennia, not quarters.”
He also points to the Egyptian concept of “Fahlawa”—a clever and flexible resourcefulness to get things done when systems fail.
“I believe that Egyptian ‘Fahlawa,’ when channeled toward entrepreneurship, is one of the most powerful and distinct entrepreneurial superpowers,” Rashwan reflected. He sees his success as a blend of “Egyptian ingenuity, American ambition, and Swiss discipline.”
A New Chapter with FalconX
With the acquisition, Rashwan becomes the third-largest shareholder in FalconX but does not plan to be involved in daily operations. The merger combines 21Shares’ retail distribution and product development expertise with FalconX’s institutional infrastructure and deep market liquidity. The goal is to create a fully integrated platform for crypto access that can build better, faster, and cheaper products for millions of customers.
After 15 years of building startups, Rashwan plans to rest before exploring his interests in the intersection of AI, crypto, and energy. He also intends to spend more time in Egypt, exploring business and philanthropic opportunities.
“Egypt is the only place in the world where I really feel at home,” he said.
About 21.co
21.co is the world’s leader in providing access to crypto through simple and easy-to-use products. The company is the parent of 21Shares, the world’s largest issuer of cryptocurrency exchange-traded products (ETPs), and Onyx, a crypto data and analytics platform. It was co-founded by Hany Rashwan and Ophelia Snyder.
Source: Enterprise
