The folks at a $15-billion-AUM, California fund firm focused on digital assets and a 12-year-old, $5-billion-AUM* institutional asset manager near Boston are teaming up to offer a fund for investors bracing for the decline of traditional currencies.

Matthew "Matt" Hougan Bitwise Asset Management Chief Investment Officer Officer

On Thursday (January 22), Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Management [profile], and Bob Haber, co-founder and chief investment officer of Proficio Capital Partners LLC, unveiled the launch of the Bitwise Proficio Currency Debasement ETF (BPRO on the NYSE Arca). San Francisco-based Bitwise Investment Management, LLC (BIM) serves as investment advisor to BPRO, while Newton, Massachusetts-based Proficio serves as subadvisor.

BPRO's inception date was January 21, and the new ETF comes with an expense ratio of 96 basis points. As of yesterday (January 26), the new fund had about $79.775 million in AUM.

A five-person team of Proficio portfolio managers powers BPRO. Those PMs include:

Gregory Burke, partner and senior research analyst;

Sheldon Hanau, chief strategy officer and partner;

Reed Malas, senior research analyst;

Matthew Wosk, co-founder, partner, and CEO; and

Haber himself, also a partner.

BPRO is designed to invest in precious metals (like gold and silver), cryptocurrencies (like bitcoin), mining, and other investments that the Bitwise and Proficio folks expect to benefit from fiat currencies' declining purchasing power.

Hougan puts the launch of BPRO in the context of the struggles of investors' "traditional playbook" of relying "on a simple mix of stocks and bonds to protect their wealth."

"By combining the historical scarcity of gold with the modern, digital scarcity of bitcoin, BPRO offers a powerful new way to hedge against the persistent decline of fiat currency," Hougan states. "We believe this 'hard asset' approach is the missing piece for the modern portfolio."

Haber notes that "gold remains a ghost in the modern portfolio" and "is still remarkably under-owned."

"Currency debasement isn't just a theoretical risk; it is an active tax on every dollar an investor saves," Haber states. "BPRO represents the evolution of our wealth preservation mission, shifting between precious metals and digital stores of value to help provide a flexible shield as the purchasing power of global currencies continues to erode."

BPRO is an actively managed, non-diversified series of Bitwise Funds Trust. The new ETF's other service providers include:

the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) as administrator, custodian, dividend disbursing agent, fund accountant, and transfer agent;

Chapman and Cutler LLP as counsel;

ACA's Foreside Fund Services, LLC as distributor; and

KPMG LLP as independent accounting firm.

*As of December 31. 

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