Bitwise Enters NFT Market With New Index Fund

Crypto asset manager Bitwise has launched an index fund that will track the largest non-fungible (NFT) art collections based on market capitalization, the company said in a press release on 16 December.

According to the announcement, the “Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Fund Index” is designed to allow accredited investors without the “time or desire to participate in periodic auctions or bids” invest in the fast growing NFT industry. The fund is already available to qualified investors for private placement subscriptions, with a minimum investment of $25,000. The CIO of Bitwise Asset Management, Matt Hougan, said in a statement:

“New frontiers in art are rare. Entirely new artistic mediums are even rarer. NFTs have emerged as the first digitally native medium for owning art and collectibles, with enormous potential for meaning, value, and use in our increasingly digital world. For many investors, that combination spells potential opportunity.”

The index fund will focus on purchasing and holding in custody art and collectible-based NFTs, and will shy away from those focused on music, virtual plots, and games. The fund will target the top 10 NFT collections based on market cap, which includes CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Autoglyphs, Fidenza, VeeFriends, CyberKongz Genesis, Cool Cats, Meebits and Chromie Squiggle.

The interest in the NFT space has exploded in 2021, with trading volumes of the asset class surpassing $10 billion for the first time in the third quarter of the year. More and more companies have started releasing products connected to NFTs, such as Blockchain.com and FTX.US who have opened NFT marketplaces. Ripple, on the other hand, has launched a $250 million creator fund to support projects building NFTs on the XRP Ledger back in September.