San Francisco-based Bitwise Asset Management has announced the official launch of the Crypto Industry Innovators exchange-traded fund (ETF). After a number of rejected proposals for Bitcoin ETFs from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the new fund could provide access to crypto-adjacent assets.
Specifically, Bitwise’s new fund, dubbed 'BITQ', offers investors exposure to shares of “public companies that are participants in the growing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency sector.”
The assets were selected based on Bitwise’s “Crypto Industry Innovators 30 Index,” which includes firms that are “engaged in actual, material activity in the crypto sector.”
According to an official announcement, most of the firms included on the list earn “at least 75% of their revenue from directly servicing cryptocurrency markets or have at least 75% of their net assets accounted for by direct holding of liquid crypto assets.” Additionally, the firms must hold “$100 million of liquid crypto assets on their balance sheet.”
“Just as e-commerce and mobile changed the way the world works, bitcoin and crypto are creating disruptive change today,” says a statement on BITQ’s official website. “Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (NYSE: BITQ) can potentially help investors capitalize on this wave of innovation.”
“Many Investors Have Had to Watch from the Sidelines” While Others Reaped “Stellar Cryptocurrency Returns,”
For some investors in the United States, BITQ may be the closest available option when it comes to having exposure to Cryptocurrencies . Bitwise Chief Executive, Hunter Horsley said that the lack of regulated cryptocurrency investment products in the United States has not gone unfelt.
Bitwise Chief Executive, Hunter Horsley.
“Over the past few years, many investors have had to watch from the sidelines as a select few have reaped the rewards of stellar cryptocurrency returns,” Horsley said in an official statement. “We’ve heard time and again from clients that the primary challenge has been finding a way to access the incredibly complex and fast-moving crypto space.”
“With BITQ, our aim is to make crypto investment opportunities available through traditional investing platforms and a familiar, liquid, and cost-effective ETF. We are thrilled to see this space continue to grow as investors increasingly gravitate toward this transformative asset class.”
A report from CoinTelegraph pointed out that while BITQ may be the first regulated fund to include the word “crypto” in its name, it is not the first to offer direct exposure to the crypto sector’s leading firms. For example, the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK) has included stocks of a number of crypto companies; the fund has gained 36.4 percent so far this year, placing it among the 50 best-performing ETFs of 2021.
