World’s First Bitcoin Mutual Fund Launches in US

US based ProFunds with $60 billion of assets under management has announced the launch of the Bitcoin Strategy ProFund.

They describe it as the first publicly available U.S. mutual fund designed to provide investment results, before fees and expenses, that generally correspond to the performance of bitcoin.

It is limited to investing in bitcoin futures, rather than bitcoin spot, but their prospectus says they can in exceptional circumstances also invest in Canadian bitcoin ETFs.

“Cryptocurrency has become a significant asset class, and our new Bitcoin Strategy ProFund provides investors access to a bitcoin strategy through a mutual fund investment,” says ProFunds’ CEO Michael L. Sapir, adding:

“Compared to directly buying bitcoin, which may involve opening a new account with an unregulated party, this ProFund offers investors the opportunity to gain exposure to bitcoin through a form and investment method that tens of millions of investors are familiar with.”

Mutual funds are a way of pooling capital together to invest with it sometime having its shares publicly traded.

Here there is a ticker, BTCFX, but there is no listed exchange with the minimum investment currently being $1,000.

They charge a total expense ratio of 1.15%, which is a bit higher than the typical 1% or less charged in ETFs, in part perhaps because this is the first of its kind and thus currently lacks much competition.

Its launch however further illustrates the growing demand for bitcoin as an asset class as well as its continued expansion into new markets.