By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 16th, 2024
The goal of the BITQ crypto ETF is to provide public companies with the exposure to crypto space without directly holding the digital assets.
On Wednesday, May 12, crypto-asset manager Bitwise launched a new crypto exchange-traded-fund (ETF) in the market. Dubbed BITQ – Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (NYSE: BITQ) – it aims to provide exposure to public-listed companies participating in Bitcoin and crypto space.
Besides, the product will track Bitwise’s Crypto Industry Innovators 30 Index. This Index designed by Bitwise’s industry expertise captures “pure-play” companies involved in different crypto sector activities. It includes companies like crypto brokerage services, crypto mining solution providers, financial and banking services, etc.
The Index also includes companies with a minimum of $100 million in liquid crypto assets on the balance sheet. These companies have either 75% of their net assets in crypto or 75% of their income derived from digital assets.
The goal of BITQ ETF is to help investors gain exposure to the crypto market without directly holding digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Speaking on the launch of BITQ ETF, Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise said:
“Like e-commerce and mobile before it, crypto is a disruptive technology creating massive opportunities for new companies to emerge as winners. Until recently, most great crypto innovators were private companies, but that’s changing rapidly. Today, there’s a growing set of public companies capitalizing on crypto, and more to come. BITQ aims to identify these businesses and give investors access.”
BITQ Index and Crypto Equity Market
The BITQ Index from Bitwise captures some unique characteristics of the crypto equity market. for e.g. it has a fast-entry rule allowing IPOs and direct listings to give entry to the index a day after their debut. One example of this rule’s impact, last month on April 14, 2021, crypto exchange Coinbase went public.
The next day on April 15, 2021, Coinbase qualified for inclusion in the index that BITQ tracks at a 10% weight. Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise said:
“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. 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.”
The BITQ crypto ETF is an addition to Bitwise’s suite of crypto index funds. Bitwise also has launched its DeFi crypto index fund besides this.