Bitwise Opens World’s First Cryptocurrency Index Fund To Retirement Accounts

Bitwise
Bitwise Asset Management
4 min readMar 29, 2018

SAN FRANCISCO, March 29, 2018 — Bitwise Asset Management, creator of the world’s first cryptocurrency index fund, the HOLD 10 Private Index Fund, announced today that the fund now supports investment from self-directed individual retirement accounts (IRAs). Investors who meet basic guidelines for accreditation may invest in the fund immediately.

“We have a strong belief in the long-term potential for cryptoassets, and in many ways, retirement accounts are a perfect place for people to invest in that potential and on that time scale,” said Hunter Horsley, CEO, Bitwise Asset Management. “Investing through an IRA has been a common request, and we’re glad to be able to support it.”

Bitwise is currently integrated with two major self-directed IRA custodians — Kingdom Trust and Entrust — to handle incoming accounts. It is working to add additional custodians.

“The idea of delivering cryptoassets in an IRA has been around for a while, but existing vehicles come with fees as high as 15%, limited diversification, or both,” said Horsley. “The HOLD 10 offers low-cost, convenient, diversified, and managed access to the cryptocurrency market.”

The HOLD 10 Private Index Fund is a market-cap-weighted fund of the 10 largest cryptocurrencies, rebalanced monthly. Assets are kept in 100% cold storage and are audited annually. The fund launched in late 2017 and is available to accredited investors, which include individuals with more than $200,000 in annual income ($300,000 for couples) or more than $1 million in net assets. The fund charges a 2.5% annual management fee, with no hidden costs or performance fees.

“As the cryptocurrency market matures, the data increasingly support the idea that cryptoassets may offer the possibility of strong returns while providing low correlations to traditional asset classes, including equities, bonds, and commodities,” said Matt Hougan, global head of research for Bitwise. “That’s a relatively rare combination.”

“There is also reason to believe that long-term returns may be negatively correlated to inflation and weakness in the U.S. dollar and other major currencies,” added Hougan. “As such, a small allocation to cryptocurrencies in a diversified portfolio may make sense for the right kind of investor.”

Bitwise Asset Management is backed by leading institutional and individual investors including Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, Blockchain Capital, Naval Ravikant, David Sacks, Elad Gil, Adam Nash, Adam Ludwin, Suna Said, Avichal Garg, and others.

About Bitwise Asset Management
Founded in 2017, Bitwise Asset Management is a cryptocurrency asset manager backed by institutional investors. The firm is a partner to individuals, financial advisors, family offices, investment managers and institutions in navigating cryptocurrency. Bitwise develops funds, indexes, insight, and other services. The team behind Bitwise has expertise in technology, security, and finance. The firm is based in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.bitwiseinvestments.com

For More Information
www.bitwiseinvestments.com

Media:
Hewes Communications, Inc.
Tucker Hewes, 212.207.9451
tucker@hewescomm.com

Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, the “Manager”) are furnishing this release (this “Release”) to sophisticated prospective investors for informational purposes only in relation to a potential opportunity to subscribe for limited liability company interests (“Interests”) in Bitwise HOLD 10 Private Index Fund, LLC (the “Fund”). This is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation for an offer to buy Interests in the Bitwise HOLD 10 Private Index Fund, LLC. Any offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy Interests will be made solely through definitive offering documents, identified as such, in respect of the Fund in compliance with the terms of all applicable securities and other laws. Such definitive offering documents, if any, will describe risks related to an investment in the Fund (including loss of the entire investment) and will qualify in their entirety the information set forth in this Release.

No Advice on Investment; Risk of Loss

Prior to making any investment decision in respect of the Fund, each investor must undertake its own independent examination and investigation of the Fund, including the merits and risks involved in an investment in the Interests, and must base its investment decision — including a determination whether Interests would be a suitable investment for the investor — on such examination and investigation and must not rely on the Manager or the Fund in making such investment decision. Prospective investors must not construe the contents of this Release as legal, tax, investment, or other advice. Each prospective investor is urged to consult with its own advisors with respect to legal, tax, regulatory, financial, accounting and similar consequences of investing in the Fund, the suitability of the investment for such investor and other relevant matters concerning an investment in the Fund. This Release contains an overview summary of the terms of the Fund. The summary set forth in this does not purport to be complete, and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the definitive offering documents relating to the Fund. Do not place undue reliance on this Release.

Information May Change and Be Inaccurate, Incomplete, or Outdated

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