It started by raising a record amount of capital from investors, but a year later it has vaporized $1.2 billion, with a 70% drop.
A year after its launch, the first ETF tracking the price of Bitcoin lost more than any other ETF in its first year of operation.
Asset manager ProShares launched Bitcoin Strategy in October 2021 and immediately became the most successful new ETF in history, raising more than $1 billion in its first week of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
However, a year later, the fund is reporting losses on an unprecedented scale, according to Morningstar Direct data presented by the Financial Times.
Its 70% drop in price also makes it the sixth worst-performing ETF of its kind of all time.
The ETF (essentially an exchange-traded fund), known as BITO, attracted inflows consistently throughout its life, with only small withdrawals.
But even with net inflows of $1.8 billion, its assets now stand at $624 million.
Taking together the timing of inflows and the 70% drop in the fund’s share price, Morningstar estimates that BITO lost $1.2 billion of investor money.
