A $60-billion-AUM mutual fund and ETF shop is now offering investors a way to bet on bitcoin, at least indirectly, through a mutual fund.

Michael Lynn Sapir ProFunds, ProShares Chairman, CEO

On Wednesday, Michael Sapir, chairman and CEO of ProFunds [profile] (and of its ProShares ETF sibling), unveiled the launch that day of the Bitcoin Strategy ProFund. The new fund invests not in bitcoin itself and instead invests in bitcoin futures contracts.

The investor class (ticker BTCFX) of the new fund comes with a net expense ratio of 115 basis points (thanks in part to ProFunds agreeing to waive 32 bps in fees until November 30, 2022). The fund is PMed by senior portfolio manager Alexander Ilyasov and PM James Linneman.

Bethesda, Maryland-based ProFund Advisors serves as the investment advisor to the new fund, and ProFunds Distributors is the fund's distributor. Other vendors to the fund include: Citi Fund Services Ohio, Inc. as administrator; FIS Investor Services LLC as transfer agent; KPMG LLP as the independent accounting firm; Ropes & Gray LLP as counsel; and UMB Bank, N.A. as custodian.

According to the ProFunds team, their new fund offers investors their first chance to get investments similar to the performance of bitcoin itself but via a U.S. mutual fund or ETF. Indeed, several U.S. ETFs that would invest in bitcoin have been proposed, but none have yet been blessed by the SEC.

"Compared to directly buying bitcoin, which may involve opening a new account with an unregulated party, this ProFund offers investors the opportunity to gain exposure to bitcoin through a form and investment method that tens of millions of investors are familiar with," Sapir states. 

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