Tag: Bitwise

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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News

Bitwise Files For Approval To Have Its Bitcoin Fund Publicly Trade On OTCQX

Bitwise Asset Management, a leading crypto asset manager with over $700 million in assets under management, announced today that it has begun the regulatory process to allow shares of the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund to trade on OTCQX.

If approved, shares of the fund would be available for trading in traditional brokerage accounts and for custody with many traditional custodians.

The company has not yet announced a ticker for the fund.

“We are tremendously excited to take the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund down the path recently taken by the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (OTCQX: BITW),” said Bitwise President Teddy Fusaro. “We have been managing this fund since 2018, offering investors a cost-effective, convenient, and secure means of gaining investment exposure to bitcoin, and are excited to potentially see shares of the fund quoted on OTCQX.”

The Fund charges a 1.5% expense ratio, which includes costs related to custody, tax, accounting, and management fees, lower than competing products. The fund’s bitcoin is held with a regulated, insured, third-party custodian.

The Bitwise Bitcoin Fund opened for private placements by accredited investors in December 2018, and the private placement offering remains open via the Bitwise website.

“There is significant growth in interest from professional investors in accessing bitcoin as a tool to hedge their portfolios against rising inflationary risks,” added Matt Hougan, Bitwise chief investment officer. “Financial advisors in particular are taking note of the large allocations that hedge funds, institutions, insurance companies, and traditional asset managers are making to bitcoin, and based on our recent survey of nearly 1,000 financial advisors, many are deciding that now is the time to consider an allocation of their own.”

If cleared, the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund will be the second Bitwise fund cleared for public quotation: On December 9, shares of the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (OTCQX: BITW) became the first publicly traded crypto index fund in the United States, and began trading on the OTCQX Best Market.

Bitwise Asset Management is a leading provider of index and beta crypto funds. Based in San Francisco, Bitwise’s team combines expertise in technology with decades of experience in traditional asset management and indexing—coming from firms including Facebook, Google, Wealthfront, BlackRock, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, IndexIQ, and ETF.com. Bitwise is backed by leading institutional investors and asset management executives, and is a frequent commentator on crypto in the press. It has been profiled in Institutional Investor, CNBC, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other leading publications. The firm is a trusted partner to financial advisors, RIAs, multifamily offices, hedge funds, and other professional investors as they navigate the crypto space. 

Bitwise Asset Management
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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News

50% More Financial Advisors Allocating Crypto Investments Over Last Year

Bitwise Asset Management

Bitwise Asset Management, a leading provider of crypto index funds, and ETF Trends, a leading source of exchange-traded fund news, tips, webcasts, and investing ideas, today released the findings of the Bitwise/ETF Trends 2021 Benchmark Survey Of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Cryptoassets.

Nearly 1,000 financial advisors answered a series of questions on cryptoassets and their use in client portfolios. Survey respondents included independent registered investment advisors, broker-dealer representatives, financial planners, and wirehouse representatives from across the U.S.

Among the key findings:

  • A Nearly 50% Increase In The Number Of Advisors Allocating To Crypto Compared With Last Year: The percentage of advisors allocating to crypto in client portfolios rose from 6.3% to 9.4% in 2020.
     
  • 17% Of Advisors Are Considering Making Their First Allocation To Crypto In 2021: Among advisors who are not currently allocating to crypto, 17% are either “definitely” (2%) or “probably” (15%) allocating in 2021. If all do so, it would more than double the number of advisors allocating to crypto, bringing adoption to over 1 in every 5 advisors.
  • The No. 1 Motivation For Advisors Is Crypto’s Uncorrelated Returns, And Inflation Hedging Is Of Rising Interest: 54% of advisors selected “uncorrelated returns” as a motivation for including crypto in portfolios. This finding was in line with last year’s survey results. “Inflation hedging” saw the largest uptick in interest, with 25% of advisors highlighting it as an attractive feature of crypto, up from just 9% last year.
     
  • Most Advisors Are Getting Questions About Crypto From Clients: 81% of all financial advisors reported receiving questions from clients on crypto in 2020, up from 76% in 2019.
     
  • Advisors Are Increasingly Optimistic About Bitcoin’s Price: 15% expect the price of bitcoin to exceed $100,000 within five years, up from just 4% in 2019. Meanwhile, the percentage expecting bitcoin’s price to fall to zero decreased sharply, from 8% in last year’s survey to 4% this year. This continues the trend of the last few years: In our 2019 survey, 14% of surveyed advisors thought the price would fall to zero.

“The survey shows it’s still early days for crypto, with less than 10% of advisors allocating today,” said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer for Bitwise. “At the same time, adoption and interest are growing: The survey suggests the number of advisors allocating could double or more in the year ahead.”

“Financial advisors are increasingly looking for exposure to alternative assets, and interest in crypto is rising,” said Tom Lydon, founder and CEO of ETF Trends. “We’ve also seen a steady progression of interest in crypto from clients of financial advisors in the three years we’ve run this survey together. I see no reason for that to change in the year to come.”

Complete findings of the survey are available in the report here.

The survey for the report was conducted in December 2020.

About Bitwise Asset Management

Bitwise Asset Management is a leading provider of index and beta crypto funds. Based in San Francisco, Bitwise’s team combines expertise in technology with decades of experience in traditional asset management and indexing—coming from firms including Facebook, Google, Wealthfront, BlackRock, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, IndexIQ, and ETF.com. Bitwise is backed by leading institutional investors and asset management executives, and is a frequent commentator on crypto in the press. It has been profiled in Institutional Investor, CNBC, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other leading publications. The firm is a trusted partner to financial advisors, RIAs, multifamily offices, hedge funds, and other professional investors as they navigate the crypto space.

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Bitcoin News Cryptocurrency News Ethereum News Litecoin News

More Signs That Institutional Money Is Flowing Into Cryptocurrency

Institutional money flows into cryptocurrency

Bitwise Asset Management, a leading provider of crypto index funds, became the most recent example of the influx of institutional money into cryptocurrency by announcing today that it recently surpassed $500 million in assets under management (AUM), up $400 million from its previous report of $100 million in AUM on October 28, 2020.

The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (OTCQX: BITW), which seeks to track an index of the 10 largest cryptoassets—including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin—has seen the strongest demand, recently crossing over $400M in AUM.

The Bitwise Bitcoin Fund and Bitwise Ethereum Fund—which provide low-cost, professionally managed exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum, respectively—have seen increased demand as well.

“The speed at which professional investors are moving into crypto right now is remarkable,” said Hunter Horsley, cofounder and Chief Executive Officer of Bitwise. “While adoption of crypto as an asset class and conviction around its role in portfolios rapidly expands, we continue to urge all investors to consider the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies in general and the Bitwise Funds in particular.”

Bitwise saw record inflows into its funds during Q4 2020, surpassing the total cumulative inflows of 2018 and 2019 combined. The increased demand came primarily from Bitwise’s core audience, investment professionals, including financial advisors, hedge funds, corporate balance sheets, and other institutional investors.

Bitwise specializes in educating and supporting professional investors, with a senior team and staff from firms like BlackRock, Fidelity, Eaton Vance, Wealthfront, Facebook, J.P. Morgan, and iCapital. The Bitwise Funds offer ongoing private placements to accredited investors via www.bitwiseinvestments.com.

About Bitwise Asset Management

Bitwise Asset Management is a leading provider of index and beta crypto funds. Based in San Francisco, Bitwise’s team combines expertise in technology with decades of experience in traditional asset management and indexing—coming from firms including Facebook, Google, Wealthfront, BlackRock, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, IndexIQ, and ETF.com.

Bitwise is backed by leading institutional investors and asset management executives, and is a frequent commentator on crypto in the press. It has been profiled in Institutional Investor, CNBC, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other leading publications. The firm is a trusted partner to financial advisors, RIAs, multifamily offices, hedge funds, and other professional investors as they navigate the crypto space. 

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Cryptocurrency News Ripple News

Binance To Delist XRP Trading On January 13, 2021

XRP continues to make the news. We’ve previously reported on the lawsuit that the Securities and Exchange Commission filed against Ripple, causing a major price crash in XRP.

Then Bitwise axed XRP from its crypto index fund.

That was followed by Bitstamp suspending trading in XRP for all U.S. residents.

Ripple’s lawyers were busy during all the flurry preparing a response to the SEC lawsuit.

Maybe it was the holidays, maybe it was wishful thinking, but along the way investors developed some hope that the worst of the bad news had already hit and bid up the price of XRP in anticipation of better days ahead.

Alas, it was not to be as more bad news just crossed our desk. Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it is delisting XRP trading for U.S. residents beginning on January 13, 2021.

A statement on the company’s website reads:

Effective Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 10am EST, XRP will be delisted from Binance.US. XRP trading and deposits will be suspended. 

When will XRP investors get a break from the barrage of bad news?

You can read the full statement here.

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Cryptocurrency News Ripple News

Bitstamp Suspends XRP Trading

Bitstamp has announced its suspension of XRP trading for U.S. citizens, joining the rapidly growing list of other crypto exchanges that have moved to remove the token from their platforms.

Starting from Jan. 8, 2021, Bitstamp’s U.S. customers will no longer be able to deposit or trade the fourth-largest cryptocurrency. From Bitstamp’s statement on XRP:

“In light of the recent SEC filing against Ripple Labs Inc., which alleges that XRP is a security, we are going to halt all trading and deposits of XRP for our US customers on 8 January 2021 at 9 PM UTC. We will closely follow the unfolding situation and continue to adapt accordingly.”

As reported by us two days ago, Ripple was slapped with a bombshell lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission SEC on Dec. 22, causing the XRP price to plummet.

Earlier today we reported that XRP was bouncing back from its 3-day price crash, and was up over 40% in the past 24 hours. However, Since the news of the Bitstamp news was released, XRP’s price rise has fizzled, with the current price at the time of publication only up 10.4%.

Notably, Bitstamp is the first major exchange to drop XRP due to its predicament with the regulatory watchdog. The Luxembourg-based company was founded back in 2011. The Bitwise Crypto Index Fund has also axed its holdings of XRP.

XRP Trading Suspended At Bitstamp
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Cryptocurrency News Ripple News

Bitwise Crypto Index Fund Axes Its XRP Holdings

Bitwise Asset Management, a leading crypto fund manager since 2017, issues this release to announce that the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund (OTCQX: BITW) (the “Fund”) has liquidated its position in XRP.

On Tuesday, December 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filed an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York alleging, among other things, that XRP is a security subject to the registration requirements of the federal securities laws.

The Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund does not invest in assets that are reasonably likely to be deemed securities under federal or state securities laws. Bitwise’s decision to liquidate its position in XRP was based on consideration of new public information from the SEC’s complaint.

Prior to the sale of the asset on December 22, 2020, XRP was approximately 3.8% of the Fund. The Fund liquidated its position and reinvested the proceeds in other cryptocurrencies for its portfolio.

Bitwise is issuing this release in accordance with the disclosure obligations of OTCQX®. The Fund’s Annual Report, published to satisfy the Alternative Reporting Standard disclosure guidelines for OTCQX® and OTCQB, discloses the significant risks associated with an investment in the shares.

Investors are encouraged to read the Annual Report and carefully consider these and other risks, including the fact that if any of the assets held by the Fund are determined to be a “security” under federal or state securities laws by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) or any other agency, or in a proceeding in a court of law or otherwise, it may have material adverse consequences for the Fund and the BITW shares.

Bitwise Asset Management is a leading provider of crypto index and beta funds. Based in San Francisco, Bitwise’s team combines expertise in technology with decades of experience in traditional asset management and indexing—coming from firms including Facebook, Google, Wealthfront, BlackRock, Fidelity, Deutsche Bank, IndexIQ, and ETF.com. Bitwise is backed by leading institutional investors and asset management executives, and is a frequent commentator on crypto in the press. It has been profiled in Institutional Investor, CNBC, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and many other leading publications. The firm is a trusted partner to financial advisors, RIAs, multifamily offices, hedge funds, and other professional investors as they navigate the crypto space.

Recently there has been an interesting development in the world of the futures and options markets; the creation of the new futures and options marketplace called the “Bitcoin Fund”. This is not your typical conventional futures broker dealer that you would deal with at your local brokerage firm. There are even a YouTube video showing the “how to get started” process that they have put together, as well as information on the dynamic nature of the market itself. As more businesses begin to explore the technology of virtual digital currency futures trading there will be those that venture into it’s very profitable business aspects.

Ripple Price Crash
Institutional Investors Shun Ripple After SEC Lawsuit