Investment firm Bitwise Asset Management is filing to register its flagship crypto fund as a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting company.
If the U.S. regulator deems the Form 10 filing effective, shares of the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund would be registered under the Exchange Act of 1934, meaning it would have to regularly file public updates on its holdings and quarterly reports with the SEC.
That could help woo investors who prefer the clockwork disclosures of public companies like Apple over the tight-lipped mystery of many crypto products. Investors who do buy in can also sell their shares within six months, rather than the 12 months accredited investors must hold shares.
Shares in Bitwise 10 already trade on the over-the-counter market under the ticker BITW. But reporting company status would improve transparency and liquidity for shareholders.
Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund would become the first non-Grayscale-owned crypto product with that distinction and the first reporting company to offer investors broad exposure to coins. (Grayscale is owned by CoinDesk parent company Digital Currency Group.)
At the end of March, the Bitwise fund disclosed major positions in bitcoin and ethereum, and sub-100 basis-point stakes in litecoin, chainlink, filecoin, bitcoin cash, stellar lumens, uniswap, aave and cosmos. It has historically traded at a “substantial premium” to those coins, according to a press release.
Grayscale’s bitcoin and ethereum trust products, which passively invest in their namesake coins, secured reporting company status in January and October 2020, respectively.
See also: Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust Seeks SEC Reporting Company Status
Matt Hougan, Bitwise’s chief investments officer, previously told CoinDesk that BITW is meant to offer a crypto investments vehicle to financial advisers. He did not immediately respond to emails Friday morning.
BITW reported $1 billion in assets under management at market close Thursday, after dropping 11% on $7.6 million in volume amid the broad crypto market sell-off.