Bitwise, a leading digital asset fund manager, has launched the Bitwise 10 Crypto Index Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), which began trading on the NYSE Arca on Tuesday. The product, trading under the symbol BITW, features a basket of ten cryptocurrencies that meet specified requirements.

Bitwise BITW offers access to 10 digital assets 

The Bitwise BITW ETF holds a single basket of the ten largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and rebalances monthly. All the digital assets in the basket undergo risk assessment on key factors such as liquidity, security and compliance.

Bitwise stated that the product has no cap on the largest allocation. "So if, in the future, Bitcoin is the only crypto asset that has value and the rest go to zero, BITW will hold almost entirely Bitcoin for investors."

Bitcoin (BTC) currently accounts for the largest allocation in the index fund at 74.34%, followed by Ethereum (ETH) at 15.55%, Ripple (XRP) at 5.17%, and Solana (SOL) at 3.07%. Other smaller allocations include Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), Litecoin (LTC), Sui (SUI), Avalanche (AVAX) and Polkadot (DOT).

A crypto index fund is similar to a traditional index fund, allowing investors to gain exposure to a basket of cryptocurrencies rather than investing in individual cryptocurrencies.

Since it is an ETF, the index fund is purchased directly on stock exchanges such as NYSE Arca. Investors do not need to hold the underlying assets, providing a broad exposure while eliminating the complexity of storing cryptocurrencies.