Crypto Quill

The approval of 11 spot bitcoin ETFs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month has sparked a surge in demand and trading volumes for the new investment products. Bitwise Asset Management, one of the issuers of the spot bitcoin ETFs, predicts that the market will continue to grow and highlights the importance of bitcoin in the global economy.

Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Ranks Fourth by Market Cap

Bitwise Asset Management runs the Bitwise Bitcoin ETP, which is currently the fourth-largest spot bitcoin ETF by market cap, with $2.75 billion in assets under management. The fund has a competitive fee of 0.20%, which is the second-lowest among the spot bitcoin ETFs.

Matt Hougan, the chief investment officer at Bitwise, said that he was surprised by the sustained inflows and volumes of the spot bitcoin ETFs, which exceeded his initial expectations. He said that there were positive inflows in 18 of the first 19 days, which made him extremely optimistic about the future price and significance of bitcoin.

Hougan also revealed that Bitwise took over 20,000 meetings with financial advisors last year in preparation for the anticipated approval of the spot bitcoin ETFs. He said that it was nerve-wracking to launch the product, but he was confident that Bitwise had a relevant and sustainable offering in the crypto space.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Set New Records, Attract Institutional Interest

The spot bitcoin ETFs have seen unprecedented demand and trading volumes since their launch. According to Blockworks data, the total assets under management of the spot bitcoin ETFs are around $28.35 billion, making for a market cap of $39.8 billion. The trading volume across 24 hours was $1.38 billion.

The leading spot bitcoin ETF is Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, with $20.27 billion in assets under management, followed by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust with $3.31 billion and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust with $2.75 billion.

Hougan expects that the demand for the spot bitcoin ETFs will continue to rise as more national account platforms come online and more large institutions show interest in the product. He said that he had significant inbound and meetings with platforms that have billions of dollars in assets. He also thinks that the spot bitcoin ETFs will hold the title for the “biggest ETF launch of all time”.

Bitwise Considers Other Products, Enters the ETF Era of Crypto

Looking ahead, Bitwise is considering the possibility of introducing other products, such as Ethereum spot ETFs, as the industry enters the ETF era of crypto. Hougan said that Bitwise would provide the products to the extent possible under relevant regulations. He also said that Bitwise was not only a bitcoin ETF provider, but a crypto asset manager that offered a range of funds and services for investors.

The price of bitcoin reached $50,000 today, marking a significant milestone and a sign of growing adoption and acceptance of the cryptocurrency. The spot bitcoin ETFs offer a convenient and regulated way for investors to gain exposure to bitcoin without having to deal with the technical and security challenges of holding the digital asset directly.