Asset management firm Bitwise has entered the tokenized fund market, taking over the management of the Bitwise Crypto Carry Fund (USCC). This is the first on-chain product under this structure, currently managing approximately $259 million, with an underlying asset basket including BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley confirmed on social media that USCC has officially launched its on-chain version. According to his disclosure, the fund's assets under management have exceeded $250 million, with a recent 30-day return of approximately 4% (annualized).
The fund employs a spot plus futures hedging strategy.
USCC does not profit from rising cryptocurrency prices, but rather from the price difference between spot and futures markets. Specifically, it buys spot assets while simultaneously shorting the corresponding futures contracts to lock in basis profits and minimize reliance on one-sided market movements.
This model differs from traditional tokenized products and is closer to the carry strategy commonly used by institutions. The article mentions that after the fund is tokenized, holders can also use their positions in on-chain scenarios, obtaining liquidity while holding fund shares.
Already integrated with Aave Horizon and Kamino
According to Bitwise, USCC was initiated by Superstate and tokenized on the FundOS platform, and is currently available for on-chain protocols such as Aave Horizon and Kamino. This means that institutions or large sums of money can hold fund shares and use them as collateral to withdraw stablecoins for other transactions or funding arrangements.
From a product design perspective, Bitwise is integrating traditional asset management products with on-chain lending scenarios. The fund itself is responsible for generating returns, while the on-chain protocol provides additional liquidity outlets, which is one of the reasons why tokenized funds have recently gained attention.
Bitwise is simultaneously expanding its ETF and on-chain product lines.
Beyond its on-chain funds, Bitwise continues to expand its spot ETF products. The article mentions that its XRP-related ETF currently has net assets of approximately $343.58 million, a share price of $14.25, and cumulative net inflows of $471.17 million.
This allows Bitwise to have two product lines in the same asset class: one targeting traditional market funds, using ETFs to meet the needs of exchanges and brokerage channels; and the other targeting on-chain finance scenarios, packaging institutional funds into tokenized shares that can be used in DeFi.
From a market perspective, XRP's inclusion in the USCC underlying asset basket indicates its continued expansion in institutional crypto products. For Bitwise, this launch also marks its further expansion from ETF manager into the on-chain tokenized fund sector.
