Crypto ETF issuer Bitwise moving into Europe via acquisition
The acquisition is set to bring nine European-listed crypto ETPs under San Francisco-based Bitwise’s brand
DAS 2022 New York by Blockworks
Crypto fund manager Bitwise is expanding to a new continent through an acquisition of London-based ETC Group, the company said Monday.
ETC Group’s nine European-listed, physically backed crypto ETPs — including offerings focused on bitcoin, Ethereum staking, solana and XRP — are set to be rebranded to include the Bitwise name in the coming months.
Bringing ETC Groups’ more than $1 billion of assets under management under Bitwise raises the acquiring firm’s asset base to about $4.5 billion.
“This acquisition allows us to serve European investors, to offer clients global insight, and to expand the product suite with innovative ETPs,” Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsely said in a statement.
The San Francisco-based issuer was among the issuers that launched the first US spot bitcoin ETFs in January. It followed that up by bringing, alongside others, a spot ether product to the American market last month.
Read more: The biggest takeaways from ETH ETFs’ opening week in the US
Bitwise has beaten out most other smaller, crypto-focused fund managers in terms of gathering net inflows for these funds. The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) ranks fourth in that category — behind BlackRock, Fidelity and a product by Ark Invest and 21Shares. Its Bitwise Ethereum ETF (BITW) trails only BlackRock and Fidelity.
The company’s BTC and ETH ETFs have asset bases amounting to roughly $2.3 billion and $240 million, respectively.
This move is not the first consolidation we’ve seen in the crypto fund space.
Europe-focused CoinShares closed its acquisition of Valkyrie’s fund business in an effort to help it build a US presence. The firm gained roughly $530 million of assets under management across four funds.
The completion of that deal came about two months after Valkyrie launched its spot bitcoin ETF on the Nasdaq.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
