After much hype and ballyhoo, it’s moving day for spot bitcoin ETFs. Crypto index fund manager Bitwise Asset Management announced that its first spot bitcoin ETF now trades on the NYSE Arca.
The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (NYSE Arca: BITB) provides low-cost access to bitcoin through a traditional ETF. It joins Bitwise’s suite of 18 crypto investment products, which includes five other crypto ETFs. BITB will hold bitcoin directly with digital asset custodian Coinbase Custody Trust.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said in a press release that they “expect significant demand for bitcoin ETFs like BITB.”
“Every year for the past six years, financial advisors have identified ETFs as their preferred way to help clients access bitcoin,” Horsley added: “Last year, 64% of financial advisors preferred a spot bitcoin ETF over existing vehicles. Now, at long last, a spot bitcoin ETF is arriving.”
See more: “Bitwise Poised for the ETF Era for Crypto”
A Game-Changer & Turning Point
Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan called the fund’s launch a “game-changer” and a “turning point” for the industry.
“For more than a decade, investors who wanted to access the world’s largest crypto asset had to wrestle with how to own it,” he said. “For many mainstream investors, that hurdle is now gone.”
Hougan was “excited to see bitcoin take its seat at the table alongside… private equity, private credit, and even gold.”
BITB’s expense ratio is 0.20%, with the fee set to 0% for the first six months on the first $1 billion in assets.
In addition, Bitwise will donate 10% of BITB’s profits to three nonprofit organizations that fund bitcoin open-source development: Brink, OpenSats, and the Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Development Fund. These organizations fund open-source developers that seek to improve bitcoin’s security, scalability, and usability. Bitwise will make donations annually for at least the next 10 years.
BITB is one of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs that the SEC approved for trading on Wednesday.
“There is pent-up advisor demand for Bitcoin ETFs,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi. “Bitwise brings unique expertise to help educate the community.”
For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Crypto Channel.