American based crypto fund manager Bitwise Asset Management has acquired ETC Group, marking the group’s entry into Europe.
Following the acquisition, all of ETC Group’s products will be renamed under the Bitwise brand but will keep the same investment objectives.
ETC Group currently has nine crypto ETPs, including the $950m ETC Group Physical Bitcoin ETP (BTCE).
Hunter Horsley, Bitwise’s CEO, said: “This acquisition allows us to serve European investors, to offer clients global insight, and to expand the product suite with innovative ETPs.
Bradley Duke, ETC Group co-founder, added: “For an asset management firm, culture and values are essential and we could not be more excited to continue our work in Europe as part of Bitwise.”
Bitwise launched its first bitcoin ETP in January in the US, the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), which has amassed $2.2bn since its inception.
White label issuer HANetf – which markets and distributes ETC Group’s ETPs – said there are no changes to the distribution agreement at this point in time.
ETC group launched a first-of-a-kind bitcoin ETP earlier this year that calculates its net-asset value (NAV) three times a day, in a move to “extend” liquidity across US, European, and Asian spot prices.
ETC Group has also made senior appointments in recent months with the hire of Ronald Richter as director of investment strategy and Wendy Langridge as chief regulatory officer in March.
