Bitwise Asset Management, manager of the first cryptocurrency index fund, the Bitwise HOLD 10 Private Index Fund, announced that ETF industry veteran Matt Hougan is joining the firm as vice president of research and development.
Hougan was previously CEO of Inside ETFs, the world's leading ETF education company, and before that, CEO of ETF.com, creator of the world's first institutionally oriented, ETF-specific ratings and analytics service. He is a three-time member of the Barron's ETF Roundtable and co-author of the CFA Institute’s monograph on ETFs, “A Comprehensive Guide to Exchange-Traded Funds.”
Bitwise launched its first fund late last fall. The Bitwise HOLD 10 Private Index Fund holds the 10 largest cryptoassets, currently capturing around 80 percent of the market. In its first two full months since launch, the HOLD 10 substantially outperformed a concentrated investment in Bitcoin alone, delivering a 45 percent return versus 1.7 percent return for Bitcoin. That outperformance persisted across both bull and bear markets: In December's bull market, Bitcoin was up 39 percent compared with 78 percent for the HOLD 10, while January's bear market saw Bitcoin fall 27 percent compared with 18 percent for the fund.
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.
