ProShares is continuing its focus on the cryptocurrency market with the launch of three new ETFs, one of which directly tracks the performance of ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency.
ProShares Ether Strategy ETF (EETH), an actively managed ETF, is the first fund of its kind to trail the native currency of the ethereum platform, according to the firm. In conjunction with the launch of EETH, the Bethesda, Md.-based firm also rolled out ProShares Bitcoin & Ether Equal Weight Strategy ETF (BETE) and ProShares Bitcoin & Ether Market Cap Weight Strategy ETF (BETH).
Two years ago, the firm introduced the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which tracks the bitcoin market and has amassed more than $850 million in assets since it launched, according to Morningstar.
Given that success, the firm elected to move forward on a fund that follows the second largest cryptocurrency, Ether, according to Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares.
“It made a lot of sense for us to bring that solution to market bringing the expertise and the learning we have from running BITO,” he said. “[We are] now offering folks the opportunity to access the second largest coin.”
BETE rebalances monthly to a 50/50 weighting between the two cryptocurrencies. BETH rebalances monthly based on the market capitalization of bitcoin and ether, the firm said.
“We believe that BETE and BETH are groundbreaking in that they offer investors the opportunity to target the performance of the two leading cryptocurrencies in their brokerage accounts through one transaction with a single ticker,” said Michael Sapir, CEO of ProShares. “We are offering two weightings depending on an investor’s desired exposure.”
Including both exposures in a portfolio can enhance its efficiency so long as advisors maintain their investment into those funds to a modest level, according to Hyman.
“The thing that is very clear about ethereum and bitcoin is [their] volatility, and it zigs when traditional asset classes zag,” he said. “When you have those two attributes that means they’re powerful diversifiers.”
Over the past year, cryptocurrency has endured its share of negative publicity, including the collapse of crypto platform FTX amd the ongoing trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Yet cryptocurrency has been performing well this year, according to Hyman.
“The resilience of these two cryptocurrencies is certainly duly noted,” he said.
The three most recent ETFs all have a 95-basis point expense ratio and are available through most major brokerage firms, according to Hyman.
With the new additions, ProShares now has five crypto-linked ETFs in its lineup. The fifth one is the ProShares Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITI), which launched last year and is the first U.S. short bitcoin-linked ETF. It has more than $75 million in assets, according to Morningstar.