We told you cryptocurrency-based exchange traded funds (ETFs) were coming .

Switzerland’s leading stock exchange has given the go-ahead for the world’s first cryptocurrency ETP, the Financial Times reports .

The ETP is called the “Amun Crypto exchange traded product (ETP)” and will be trading from next week on the “Six” exchange in Zurich.

The Amun Crypto ETP will track an index made up of five leading cryptocurrencies including: Bitcoin, XRP, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin.

Each of these coins will be weighted at 49.7 percent, 25.4 percent, 16.7 percent, 5.2 percent, and 3 percent, respectively. The fund holds a 2.5 percent annual management fee.

There is no mention of how the fund plans to address the recent Bitcoin Cash hard fork . But that’s what the management fee is for; to pay professionals to make that decision on behalf of investors.

Perhaps the best thing about this ETP is that its trading ticker is simply “ HODL .” A not-so-subtle nod to cryptocurrency investors around the world.

While there are similar products on the market, from a legal point of view they are not true ETFs as they track only single coins rather than a curated fund, or are based around derivatives.

Indeed, Goldman Sachs launched a Bitcoin derivative earlier this year, based around a futures contract, and has been signing up selected investors.

Switzerland’s launch of a true cryptocurrency-based ETF undeniably sets a precedent. It could mark the start of more cryptocurrency ETFs making it to market.

Report: Blockchain app transaction volume down nearly 40%

The total transactional volume of blockchain apps (dapps) across the six major dapp-centric networks hit just $2.03 billion last quarter, down by nearly 40 percent.

More troubling, just 148 dapps launched in Q3 of this year. That’s less than the monthly average of the first half of 2019 (when 164 new ones were deployed every month).

Still, over half of those transactions were related to cryptocurrency gambling, reports dapp explorer Dapom with its latest quarterly analysis.

The one shining light, however, is the rising popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) dapps — particularly those that run on Ethereum.

Users aren’t sticking around to use their favorite dapps

Dapom’s research indicates that over $525 million flowed through DeFi dapps last quarter, and 88 percent of that was processed on the Ethereum blockchain.

The firm recorded more than 500,000 new dapp users last quarter. Approximately 138,000 (27.6 percent) arrived just for DeFi, while over 170,000 (34 percent) were brought in by the allure of gambling their cryptocurrency.

This made DeFi the second-largest category in terms of volume, after gambling.

The thing is, just 36 percent of users from Q2 used their dapps at least once in Q3. But, thanks to DeFi apps like MakerDAO and Nest, an influx of new users has kept Ethereum dapp activity relatively steady.

“ Only slightly more than 80,000 ETH holders used dapps in both Q2 and Q3,” said Dapom. “But the wave of DeFi has given the best growth for Ethereum dapp users — over 310,000 new dapp users in a quarter, the highest of all time so far.”

EOS users are still all about cryptocurrency gambling

User retention for rival network EOS is reportedly relatively strong. The amount of mainnet accounts and new dapp users on EOS grew slower than Ethereum and TRON last quarter, but 40 percent of previous EOS dapp users actually stuck around.

To compare, just five percent of Ethereum users remained quarter-to-quarter, while 15 percent of TRON users did the same.

“Less than 220,000 new EOS accounts were created in Q3, and 80,000 EOS holders have started using dapps in Q3,” said Dapom.

TRON stats still show its users love to gamble

According to Dapom, TRON added another 500,000 mainnet addresses last quarter, pushing its total to over 3.7 million, the highest of any blockchain platform that launched since 2017.

The firm also noted that TRON is still the second most popular blockchain for deploying dapps, just after Ethereum.

However, just like last quarter, most of TRON‘s active dapp users, dapp transactions, and transactional dapp volume directly relates to gambling. Eighty-six percent of TRON‘s dapp volume is gambling-specific. This makes TRON the least diverse of the major dapp-centric blockchains.

The unfortunate truth is that still, years after the most popular blockchains launched, those running dapps are primarily here to gamble away their cryptocurrency.

You can read Dapom’s full report here .

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Discuss the evolution of money at Hard Fork Decentralized

At our blockchain and cryptocurrency event, Hard Fork Decentralized , we’re inviting the leading industry companies to host their own discussions across London. Cryptocurrency wallet Luno will be hosting their own event , where they’ll explore investing in a decentralized economy.

CEO Marcus Swanepoel will be leading the discussion in London on December 13 – we sat down with him and got a sneak preview of what topics he’ll explore.

The evolution of money

Swanepoel explained that the financial system is going through a transformation:

According to him, the opportunities that cryptocurrency can offer us are far-reaching:

Swanepoel does admit that, in some cases, decentralization isn’t always possible:

The road to mass adoption

While Swanepoel is clearly optimistic about blockchain’s future, we asked him whether cryptocurrency had any shortcomings compared to fiat:

How can we keep up?

In the evolution of money, how can we expect people to change in order to keep up? More importantly, will some people get left behind? Swanepoel believes that this evolution is inevitable. As such, it’s best to get a head’s start on things:

Marcus concludes by making it clear that himself and Luno do not provide investment advice and encourage everyone to research before buying:

You can hear Marcus Swanepoel discuss the evolution of money in further detail at his Luno event on December 13 in London, UK! Sign ups are now open , so be quick – spots are filling up!

Don’t have a ticket yet? No problem – we have multiple options to suit your needs. Join Hard Fork Decentralized now !