Bitcoin ETFs Are So Passe: Bitwise Asset Management Wants the SEC to Approve a Multi Cryptocurrency ETF

On Tuesday (24 July 2018), San Francisco-based Bitwise Asset Management, a pioneer in the area of cryptoasset index funds, filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for approval of an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) that would track a basket of ten cryptocurrencies.

The cryptoasset management firm, which was founded in 2017, currently has a “HOLD 10 Private Index Fund” (with an inception date of 22 November 2017), which the company says was the world’s first cryptocurrency index fund. According to its Fact Sheet, the fund aims “to track the Bitwise HOLD 10 Index, which selects the 10 largest cryptoassets based on criteria, including 5-year diluted market capitalization, trade volume minimums, concentration limits, and compliance.” As of 30 June 2018, the components of the index were Bitcoin (55.0%), Ethereum (20.0%), XRP (9.4%), Bitcoin Cash (6.4%), Dash (1.3%), Litecoin (2.6%), Stellar Lumens (2.3%), Monero (1.1%), Zcash (1.0%), and Ethereum Classic (1.0%).

The “HOLD 10 Private Index Fund” did not need to get SEC approval because it is only marketed to U.S. Accredited Investors.

Even though the SEC has not yet even approved a Bitcoin ETF, Bitwise must be feeling confident that the U.S. financial regulator’s approval of the first Bitcoin ETF is not far away (many industry analysts are expecting the SEC to announce its decision regarding Cboe’s application for a Bitcoin ETF around 15 August 2018) since, according to a CNBC report, earlier today, Bitwise filed its own application for a multi cryptocurrency ETF, in the process becoming the first company to do so.

Matt Hougan, the company’s Global Head of Research, who is a former CEO of ETF.com, told CNBC:

“We’re joining the queue… The market is professionalizing in a direction that the SEC would allow a crytpo ETF onto the market.”

According to the press release for this announcement, the “new ETF will be called the Bitwise HOLD 10 Cryptocurrency Index Fund”, and it seeks “to track the returns of Bitwise’s HOLD 10 Index.”

John Hyland, Global Head of Exchange Traded Products at Bitwise, stated:

“We are aware that other investment firms have filed for cryptocurrency ETFs under the Securities Act of 1933, and that there continues to be interest in filing under the Investment Company Act of 1940. As best we know, all of these funds plan to offer exposure to a single coin such as bitcoin or ether. That is fine, but our proposed offering is obviously different… We know that the current crypto ETF filings have generated a great deal of discussion and analysis within the SEC about this emerging asset class, and the SEC and its staff, to their credit, have asked for public comment on a wide range of issues relating to these products. We expect the staff of the SEC has had ongoing discussions with the investment firms making the crypto filings to date, and we look forward to having our own discussions with the SEC about the nature of our proposed offering.”

And Bitwise’s Global Head of Research, Matt Hougan further added:

“Our research shows that an index-tracking basket of multiple cryptocurrencies behaves differently than a single coin. As such, we think both sorts of exposure need to be looked at by investors when considering the growing cryptocurrency space. Our view is that this new area has many similarities to the introduction 10 to 15 years ago of commodity ETFs. At that time, we saw the launch of single-commodity ETFs tracking gold, silver, crude oil, and other commodities, as well as ETFs tracking diversified commodity index baskets. We see a lot of similarities here.”

The SEC has been reluctant to approve any Bitcoin ETFs due to various concerns, such as price volatility, lack of adequate custodial solutions, and price manipulation, but many traders/investors seem to be very hopeful of a positive decision, judging by the current Bitcoin rally, which saw Bitcoin break the $8,000 barrier (for the first time since mid May 2018) earlier today (with Bitcoin trading, at press time, around $8,242, up 6.47% in the past 24 hour period).

Featured Image Credit: Photo by “Andre Francois” on Unsplash.com