Exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuer Bitwise has filed to launch a new fund that would hold stocks of publicly traded companies that have significant Bitcoin holdings on their books.
The Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF would invest in companies “that have adopted the ‘Bitcoin standard’” and hold at least 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) in their corporate treasuries, according to a Dec. 26 regulatory filing.
The Bitcoin-holding firms would also have to have a market capitalization of at least $100 million, a minimum average daily liquidity of at least $1 million, and a public free float of under 10% to be included in the ETF.
Unlike other ETFs, which typically give weight to stock holdings based on company market caps, Bitwise’s fund would assign weight to its holdings based on the market value of the firm’s Bitcoin treasuries — capped at a max weight of 25%.
It would mean, for example, that Tesla with its $1.42 trillion market cap would have less weighting in Bitwise’s ETF than MicroStrategy with its $83.5 billion market cap, as Telsa owns 9,720 BTC to MicroStrategy’s 444,262 BTC.
Source: Nate Geraci
It comes amid a wave of public companies buying Bitcoin to boost their stock prices, as the cryptocurrency gained 117% this year.
Bitcoin crossed over six figures for the first time last month and hit a peak of around $108,000 earlier in December, but it has since dropped to trade at around $95,800.
KULR Technology Group is the latest public firm to buy Bitcoin, announcing on Dec. 16 that it spent $21 million buying 217.18 Bitcoin, which saw its stock price close up over 40% on the day to an all-time high of $4.80, per Google Finance.
Bitwise’s ETF filing comes the same day as the Vivek Ramaswamy-founded Strive filed to launch an ETF giving exposure to “Bitcoin Bonds,” investing in convertible bonds issued by MicroStrategy and other corporate Bitcoin holders.
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