On January 24, Bitwise Asset Management, which calls itself “the largest crypto index fund manager in America,” made an important announcement about its spot ETF — Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) — that was approved by the U.S. SEC (along with ten other spot Bitcoin ETFs from other firms) on January 10 and started trading on January 11.
The firm declared that BITB had become the first US-listed spot Bitcoin ETF to publish the wallet address for its BTC holdings. According to Bitwise, this allows anyone to verify the ETF’s holdings and flows directly on the blockchain. It also said that this move aligns with the core ethos of Bitcoin, which emphasizes on-chain transparency. Bitwise expressed pride in adhering to this principle, emphasizing their commitment to walking the walk with BITB.
Furthermore, Bitwise views the publication of on-chain addresses as just the beginning of its journey towards enhancing public transparency. The firm anticipates further advancements in infrastructure and expresses a desire to collaborate with companies like Hoseki. Their goal is to provide real-time cryptographic attestations, further solidifying the transparency and reliability of their ETF.
In response to Bitwise’s announcement, analyst Joe Burnett expressed his approval with an enthusiastic “Nice!” He also proposed an innovative idea to enhance the security and decentralization aspect of the ETF. Burnett suggested the use of a network of geographically distributed key agents. This approach would ensure that the client’s Bitcoin does not rely on a single centralized custodian, thereby reducing the risk of a single point of failure.
Well, shortly after this move by Bitwise, someone decided that it would be a good idea to send some satoshis to this address.
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