The team at a $12-billion-AUM, crypto-focused asset manager in California are rolling out an index fund to help investors bet on the companies that are the most friendly to the most popular cryptocurrency.

Matthew "Matt" Hougan Bitwise Asset Management Chief Investment Officer

Yesterday (March 11), Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management [profile], unveiled the launch of the Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF (OWNB on the NYSE Arca). San Francisco-based Bitwise Investment Management, LLC (BIM) serves as investment advisor to OWNB.

OWNB's inception date was Monday (March 10), and it comes with an expense ratio of 85 basis points. As of yesterday, the fund had $559,000 in AUM.

Bitwise Index Services LLC serves as index provider to OWNB, which is designed to track the Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations Index. Daniela Padilla, an associate portfolio manager at Bitwise, and Jennifer Thornton, senior index fund PM, will PM the new fund.

The index that the new Bitwise ETF tracks consists of stocks of companies that each hold at least 1,000 bitcoin in their corporate treasuries, with weighting (within some limits) determined by the amount of bitcoin each company owns. Hougan puts the new fund in the context of some companies perceiving "bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset that's liquid and scarce — and not subject to the whims or money printing of any government."

"We think companies are only getting started here, and this ETF gives investors exposure to innovative firms at the forefront of this trend," Hougan states.

OWNB is a non-diversified, passively managed series of the Bitwise Funds Trust. The new ETF's other service providers include: Bank of New York Mellon as administrator, custodian, dividend disbursing agent, securities lending agent, and transfer agent; Chapman and Cutler LLP as counsel; ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor; and KPMG LLP as independent accounting firm. 

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