- Business
- Bitwise Funds Trust (ticker: ICRC) serves as a Delaware statutory trust that issues and redeems shares of exchange-traded funds, including the Bitwise CRCL Option Income Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: ICRC), an actively managed fund seeking current income and exposure to the share price of Circle Internet Group, Inc. Class A common stock (NYSE: CRCL), subject to limits on potential gains through a synthetic covered call strategy involving FLEX and standardized exchange-traded options, synthetic long exposure, covered call writing, and U.S. Treasurys for collateral; the strategy targets monthly income distributions via option premiums while participating in CRCL price returns capped by sold calls. The Trust offers additional crypto-related ETFs through Bitwise Investment Manager, LLC, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and options income strategies on ether ETPs, alongside exposure to crypto industry innovators, Web3 equities, and rotation strategies blending bitcoin/ether futures with U.S. Treasurys.
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, at 250 Montgomery Street, Suite 200, with administrative operations c/o Delaware Trust Company in Wilmington, Delaware, the Trust operates under the management of Bitwise Asset Management, Inc., a specialist crypto asset manager founded in 2017 that oversees over $15 billion in client assets across ETFs, ETPs, index funds, separately managed accounts, and private funds focused on digital assets, equities, and derivatives. Products emphasize regulated access to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether, stablecoin issuers such as Circle (USDC), and thematic sectors including staking, tokenization, and blockchain innovation, targeting institutional and retail investors seeking income, growth, and risk-managed exposure in the digital asset ecosystem. Geographic operations span the U.S. primary markets with expansion into Europe via integration of acquired ETP platforms.
In October 2025, Bitwise launched ICRC as the first covered call ETF tied to Circle stock post its June 2025 IPO, alongside the IETH Ethereum Option Income Strategy ETF, expanding the options income suite to harness crypto equity volatility for monthly payouts with expense ratios of 0.98% for ICRC and 0.97% for IETH; these funds began trading on NYSE Arca around October 2, 2025, with initial distributions announced for November 26, 2025. Earlier in April 2025, Bitwise acquired London-based ETC Group, adding over $1 billion in European-listed physical crypto ETPs like Bitcoin (BTCE), Ethereum staking (ET32), Solana, XRP, and broad digital asset indices, boosting total AUM above $4.5 billion and renaming products under the Bitwise brand for global scale. In late 2024, the Trust adopted enhanced rotation strategies for certain funds, pivoting to momentum-based allocation between crypto futures and Treasurys for improved risk-adjusted returns, while Bitwise crossed $5 billion AUM amid spot ETP launches.