Bitwise Asset Management, which claims to be one of the largest crypto index fund managers, announced one of the “most significant” enhancements to the firm’s capabilities since its founding in 2017: the creation of Bitwise’s actively managed crypto strategies.
The expansion into active strategies “marks an important milestone for Bitwise, whose suite of more than 15 crypto solutions includes the world’s first and largest crypto index fund, along with strategies spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, NFTs, Web3, crypto equities, and the Metaverse.”
Bitwise’s move to add active strategies is “being driven by fast-growing institutional demand for liquid crypto strategies.” The company’s active team will be “led by a newly assembled team of experts, headed by Jeffrey Park, CFA. Park, who brings nearly a decade of experience as a crypto investor, was most recently a partner at alternatives manager Corbin Capital, where he spearheaded the firm’s earliest investments into digital assets.”
Prior to that, Park held roles “at Harvard Management Company and Morgan Stanley, specializing in fixed income and exotic derivatives.”
Joining Park is Vincent Molino, who will “head operational due diligence for Bitwise’s active solutions.” Molino reportedly “led and supported due diligence efforts for more than a decade at institutions including Northern Trust, Mercer, and EnTrustPermal.” In addition, Denny Peng has “joined the team from multi-strategy hedge fund complex Millennium Management and will serve as risk manager.”
Bitwise’s new team will initially “focus on multi-strategy absolute return solutions that seek to capitalize on market inefficiencies and place emphasis on low volatility and sound risk management.”
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley said:
“For the last half-decade, our sole focus at Bitwise has been pioneering ways for investors to access the opportunities emerging in crypto. The addition of active strategies to our services is a huge step forward in our ability to do that. I’m proud to say we’ve assembled one of the most talented teams in the country to build out our new active strategies, leveraging the platform and experience we’ve developed at Bitwise.”
The announcement “comes at a time when institutions are expressing greater interest in digital assets but face increasing complexity in assessing the space.” The number of crypto-focused funds has “grown from 31 in 2016 to more than 850 today, heightening the need for active strategies that can properly analyze and vet the investable universe for institutions.”
Based in San Francisco, Bitwise claims it is “one of the largest and fastest-growing crypto asset managers.”
As of year-end 2021, Bitwise “managed over $1.3 billion across an expanding suite of investment solutions.”