Bitwise Partners With Bank of New York Mellon To Serve As Transfer Agent In Proposed Bitcoin ETF

Bitwise Asset Management has appointed Bank of New York Mellon to be the administrator and transfer agent for its proposed Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The Trust’s investment objective is to provide exposure to bitcoin at a price that is reflective of the actual bitcoin market where investors can purchase and sell bitcoin, less the expenses of the Trust’s operations. In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Trust will hold bitcoin, and in seeking to ensure that the price of the Trust’s shares is reflective of the actual bitcoin market, the Trust will value its shares daily based on prices contributed by exchanges that the Sponsor’s affiliate.

Teddy Fusaro, the Bitwise chief operating officer, said that an ETF’s service providers play a vital behind the scenes role in supporting any type of fund.

He added:

“We’re pleased to disclose experienced and professional service providers from the traditional ETF ecosystem we intend to work with to support the proposed product.”

As a transfer agent, BNY Mellon will be responsible to redeem shares and respond to the shareholders, along with the maintenance of accounts. In addition, the banking giant has also been named as the ETF custodian.

The association of BNY Mellon with Bitwise is not its debut in the crypto industry as the bank has already partnered with Intercontinental Exchange-backed Bakkt to facilitate private key storage for its Bitcoin futures contracts.

ETFs are seeing a good future ahead of them but still, it's uncertain. VanEck SolidX has taken a different route to receive a quick nod of the SEC.