Bitwise Launches Bitcoin, Ethereum Beta Funds to ‘Capitalize’ on Market Downturn

Digital asset manager Bitwise has launched two new beta funds for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), according to a press release Dec. 5.

The launch of the new products reportedly aims to provide a “low-cost” and “liquid” means of capturing returns on both high-profile assets, currently trading 81 and 92 percent respectively below their all-time highs.

As per the press release, the funds will not charge premiums, exit fees, impose lockups, nor charge extra expenses “outside the stated management fee.” Investors’ holdings will reportedly be kept in cold storage wallets held by an unnamed “institutional third-party custodian,” and Bitwise says it will provide clients with K-1 tax documents each year.

Matt Hougan, global head of research for Bitwise, has contextualized the launch of the new funds as being driven by “significant inbound demand” spurred by part “positive developments on the horizon.” These, he outlined, include “the forthcoming “launch of the Bakkt bitcoin futures exchange from ICE, the launch of Fidelity Digital Assets, and the continued movement of institutional investors like Yale University and Stanford University into the crypto space.”

In December of last year, Bitwise raised $4 million in seed funding from major names in venture capital such as Naval Ravikant and Elad Gil.

As reported this summer, Bitwise has also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a regulated multi-cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF), which has been designed to include ten cryptocurrencies. If approved, the ETF would track the Bitwise HOLD 10 Private Index Fund that was founded last November.

Multiple U.S. crypto-related ETF proposals –– most of which focus on Bitcoin (BTC), rather than being multi-cryptocurrency –– are still currently under review by the SEC. Just last week, the SEC published a memorandum from its latest meeting with U.S. investment firm VanEck and blockchain software and financial services company SolidX, whose joint application for a Bitcoin ETF was first submitted his June.