Bitwise has applied to FINRA to trade Bitwise Bitcoin Fund shares on the OTC market

Crypto asset management company Bitwise Asset Management has applied to FINRA to publicly trade shares of its Bitwise Bitcoin Fund on the OTC market.

Bitwise has filed an application with the Financial Institutions Regulatory Agency (FINRA) regarding the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund. The company aims to compete with the investment products of Grayscale Investments and Galaxy Digital and plans to publicly trade its fund’s shares on the OTCQX market in New York. Fidelity Investments will control the storage of the fund’s assets.

The OTCQX OTC market is designed for both US and international companies that must meet strict financial standards. If approved by FINRA, the shares of the Bitwise fund will be available for trading on traditional brokerage accounts and can be held with traditional custodians.

“There is a significant increase in the interest of professional investors in bitcoin as a tool for hedging portfolios against growing inflation risks,” said Bitwise investment director Matt Hougan.

He added that more and more financial advisors are “taking note” of the large allocations to bitcoin by hedge funds, institutions, and insurance companies, and can start investing in the crypto asset themselves.

Bitwise reported that the fund offers an expense ratio of 1.5% – lower than that of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (2.0%). If approved, the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund will become the company’s second publicly traded fund on the OTC market. Recall that in December, the company opened access to the purchase of shares of the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Fund through the OTC Markets Group over-the-counter platform.