Wealth management firms aren’t the only ones trying to be one-stop shops.

Earlier this month, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance began offering direct access to options on more than 1,000 US stocks and ETFs. Although these assets are currently available only to international customers, it’s the latest effort by a major crypto operation to make its mark on the world of traditional finance, and vice versa, as crypto ETFs’ popularity continues to attract broker-dealers and banks. The move also signals the platform’s goal of presenting itself to investors as more than just a crypto marketplace.

“Binance increasingly wants to be viewed as a full investment platform,” said Hesom Parhizkar, cofounder of AdvizorPro. “Crypto remains a relatively small pool of assets compared with the enormous traditional wealth management and RIA markets, so offering stocks, ETFs and related products gives Binance access to a much larger opportunity.”

A Sturdy Foundation

One reason Binance might make such a move is that it already had much of the necessary infrastructure in place, Parhizkar said. Crypto exchanges that are built to help users open accounts, buy digital assets and navigate mobile, intuitive interfaces — as well as monitor trades in real time — create a user experience that is already “more modern than what investors encounter at traditional custodians,” he said. And Binance isn’t alone. Other exchanges are also combining crypto offerings with traditional or tokenized equities:

• In February, Coinbase opened stock trading to everyone in the US, enabling American users to trade ETFs and equities alongside crypto holdings.
• In July, Robinhood made stock tokens (tokenized debt securities that give investors price exposure to stocks and ETFs) available in 120 countries.
• Last month, Kraken similarly gave some European customers access to more than 7,000 US-listed stocks.

“The dividing line between crypto and traditional finance is becoming much less meaningful to the end investor,” Parhizkar said.

One and Done? Binance is betting on investor demand for a “do-it-all” platform, Parhizkar said, which may exist, particularly among younger and more digitally native investors. Vanguard’s acquisition of Altruist is another indication that large traditional asset managers recognize the value of modern custody technology, he added.

“I wouldn’t say that transaction directly caused Binance’s strategy, [since] Binance began introducing US equities before the Vanguard announcement,” Parhizkar said. “But it reinforces the competitive pressure.”

There’s a growing category of funds that’s ready, willing and autocallable.

At least two such products launched last week: the Pacer Metaurus High Income Autocallable ETF (ACBH) and Pacer Metaurus Enhanced Core Income Autocallable ETF (ACBE). Those represent the first in the category for Pacer, which has partnered with Metaurus Advisors on other ETFs.

The trend, which saw the first autocallable ETF appear on the scene last year, has introduced the structured note format at a time when more investors are looking for income, said Sean O’Hara, president of Pacer ETF Distributors. “With an ETF, you can have multiple issues in one place,” he said. “There are tax advantages. There are liquidity advantages. And you’re not buying any bank balance-sheet risk.”

Incoming!

With about 10,000 people turning 65 every day, there’s an obvious market for funds that provide yields significantly higher than what people might get with Treasurys, O’Hara said. “You could look at the strategies as a fixed income replacement,” he said. “Equity returns over time have been 8-10%. I could [also] use this as a complement to my long-only equity portfolio.” The autocallables are linked to the Metaurus US Large Cap VolPath Index, and the two funds offer different levels of principal protection. ACBH, for example, uses 70% coupon and maturity barriers, whereas ACBE protects against a 50% decline in the reference index. The funds also have a “memory” feature, allowing income to be withheld if the barriers are pierced but then paid out if and when the index goes back above them, O’Hara noted.

Other recent additions to the autocallable ETF market:

• ProShares, which in August launched its first such funds: the S&P 500 Autocallable Income (ACSP), Nasdaq-100 Autocallable Income (ACQQ) and Russell 2000 Autocallable Income (ACRT) ETFs.
• Rex Shares, which last month added to its line with the Rex Defensive Autocallable Income ETF (DACL).

Variety Show: The category is providing one way that issuers can compete for new business without going up against the biggest asset managers that dominate the larger world of ETFs, said Zachary Evens, Morningstar analyst of passive strategies. And though autocallable ETFs are relatively new, there are significant differences in the approaches companies take with them, including the indexes they use and risks they assume, he noted. “As investors are exploring this space, and as advisors are starting to understand these products better, those differences are really key,” he said. “Anybody that wants income and has a little bit more risk tolerance than a 100% bond investor might find these interesting.”

Robot, take the wheel.

Ai Funds launched an ETF last month that uses a proprietary artificial intelligence model to select and manage a high-conviction portfolio of 40 to 60 US stocks. The Ai Funds High Conviction US Equity AI-Managed ETF (HIAI) aims to beat the S&P 500 over a full market cycle and adjusts risk depending on market signals, according to the prospectus. While many funds use AI-assisted strategies, having AI run the show (with human oversight) is fairly unique. Tal Schwartz, founder of Ai Funds, believes that AI-managed funds could become the third option in the current active versus passive binary.

“It will still be years and possibly decades for that to happen because the industry is conservative and they will want to see the proof in the pudding,” Schwartz said. “I’m very optimistic, but I also realize it’s a long journey to prove this.”

Always Gonna Be Another Mountain

Beating the S&P 500 is notoriously difficult. But for Ai Funds, that’s the point. “We chose that as our benchmark for HIAI because it is so difficult,” Schwartz said. “We think that HIAI is good enough at this point to be able to exceed the benchmark.”

Still, the road to success is steep, especially with HIAI’s 0.87% expense ratio, which four analysts told ETF Upside is unusually high. In 2025, active ETFs had an average expense ratio of 0.74%, according to Fidelity. “Ultimately, to really succeed, you need to put together a three-year track record that big broker dealers look at faithfully,” said Loren Fox, research director at FUSE. “If this can survive for three years and outperform the S&P 500, then that’s a different story. But I think that they’re going to face an uphill battle.”

AI-managed funds haven’t had an easy time so far, per Morningstar:

• Five of the seven currently trading ETFs have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year, but only two of them have outperformed over the past three years. All seven have outflows over the year-to-date, one-year and three-year time frames.
• Of the 21 funds launched in this category, eight have since folded.

Alpha, Final Boss: Schwartz argued that Ai Funds’ model sees patterns that humans miss and is not swayed by biases and emotions. But with the vast amount of information available to investors these days, is that enough to give the fund an edge? “I just don’t know how this is going to find something that the overall market won’t,” said Athanasios Psarofagis, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Maybe “eventually they get so smart and it just says, ‘Hey, you know what? I can’t beat the market. I can’t overtrade it. I’m recommending you just buy the S&P 500.’ I feel like that’s like the final boss.”