Beyond Bitcoin: Asset Manager Bitwise Launches Crypto Index Fund Offering Altcoin Exposure

The institutional demand for crypto has now moved beyond Bitcoin. Analyzing the market demand, crypto asset manager Bitwise is taking a step in this direction!

Earlier today, September 9, the world’s largest crypto index fund manager – Bitwise Asset Management – introduced the world’s first “ex Bitcoin” Crypto Index Fund in the market.

This is the world’s first large-cap crypto index fund offering exposure to some of the top-performing altcoins in the market. The fund constituents are altcoins like Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Chainlink (LINK), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Polygon (MATIC), Litecoin (LTC), Uniswap (UNI), and Stellar (XLM).

Of these, Ethereum (ETH) will enjoy the lion’s share of weightage allocation at 68.53%. Cardano (ADA) comes second with 15.43% and Solana (SOL) at third with 5.49%.

Solana (SOL) making its position in the Bitwise Index Fund is a major milestone for a cryptocurrency that has rallied significantly to now become the sixth-largest crypto by market cap. Speaking of the development, Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management said:

“This launch is being driven by customer demand. Many investors today have exposure to bitcoin but are excited by the dynamic developments taking place around other assets. That’s particularly true for professional investors, who value the utility these assets offer. This new fund allows investors to complement their existing bitcoin exposure with a professionally managed solution that captures other large-cap cryptoassets.”

Altcoins Extending Their Market Footprint

The recent decision from Bitwise comes as the Bitcoin dominance in the market has dropped from over 60% to 42% in a year’s time. On the other hand, most of the top-performing altcoins mentioned above have extended their footprint and market dominance.

As we can see, 9 of the 10 altcoins in the Bitwise “ex-Bitcoin” Crypto Index Fund, belong to the top ten crypto list. Besides, several of them also contributed to the rapidly emerging markets of decentralized finance (DeFi), smart contracts, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Bitwise note that it will monitor all these altcoins on parameters of “liquidity, custody, and regulatory risks”. Bitwise has picked Coinbase Custody to hold all the assets of the fund. Currently, only accredited investors with private placements can seek exposure to the fund.