Anonymous Investor Sends 0.00006969 BTC to Bitwise Bitcoin Spot ETF Address

Hours after Bitwise made history by sharing its Bitcoin Spot ETF wallet address, an anonymous investor sent 0.00006969 BTC to the fund.  

Bitwise recently made history in the Bitcoin spot ETF market after it became the first asset manager to share its fund’s BTC digital wallet address with the public. 

Announcement: Today the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) becomes the first U.S. bitcoin ETF to publish the bitcoin addresses of its holdings.

Now anyone can verify BITB’s holdings and flows directly on the blockchain.

Onchain transparency is core to Bitcoin’s ethos. We’re proud to… pic.twitter.com/1JTUh3zvDE

— Bitwise (@BitwiseInvest) January 24, 2024

The transparency move has drawn applause from industry experts. With Bitwise revealing its Bitcoin spot ETF (BITB) address, crypto community members can easily track the content of the fund. 

As of January 23, Bitwise Bitcoin holdings was around 11,858 BTC, worth $472.98 million at press time. Live data from the Bitcoin network confirms that the Bitwise ETF address now holds 12,338 BTC valued at $492.97 million.

Generous Bitcoin Holder Sends Tip to Bitwise Address 

In an interesting development, a generous Bitcoin holder gifted the company 6,969 Sats or 0.00006969 BTC. The fund was sent directly to Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF wallet address. 

Notably, Bloomberg’s analyst Eric Balchunas called attention to the generosity in an X post today. Balchunas, who has closely followed the events in the Bitcoin spot ETF market, said donating the underlying asset of an active ETF is a one-of-a-kind move. 

I’m pretty sure this is a first for ETFs: someone donating underlying assets to the fund (which is now poss bc Bitwise published their bitcoin addresses). Never a dull moment I swear. https://t.co/FQX0gOaYGS

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 24, 2024

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In a subsequent comment, Balchunas doubted whether the donation could affect BITB price, as it bypasses the normal procedures of adding assets into an ETF. 

“I guess it could be treated like securities lending revenue and put back into the NAV [net asset value] like a rebate on the expense ratio,” he added. 

Bitwise Attempts to Stay Ahead of the Curve

Bitwise has been making significant moves to stay ahead of the competition in the ETF market. The market is currently dominated by top asset managers like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale, with small companies like Bitwise required to make strategic moves to remain relevant in the space. 

Revealing BITB’s wallet address aligns with this goal. The move sends a clear message to prospective investors that Bitwise will focus on transparency in its Bitcoin spot ETF business. 

Beyond publishing its ETF wallet address, Bitwise was among the first companies to release a commercial for its Bitcoin fund. The commercial was released before the SEC approved the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs on June 10. 

Another way Bitwise has tried to stay ahead of the curve is by lowering the fees of its Bitcoin fund. The company lowered its fees to a paltry 0.20%. Additionally, Bitwise also introduced a fee waiver for the first six months or $1 billion in total assets locked. 

The Crypto Basic recently reported that Bitwise’s BITB saw $19.08 million inflow yesterday. Its publicly-shared data corroborates with the holdings in the address. Meanwhile, Bitcoin was changing hands at $39,887, up 0.1% in the past 24 hours.