Guest
Hunter Horsley
#1536 Hunter Horsley & Matt Hougan | Did The Bitcoin ETF End The 4-Year Cycle?
- Bitwise Asset Management has grown to approximately $10 billion in AUM since its 2017 founding through consistent investor education and relationship-building, particularly with institutional and private wealth clients. - The approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs fundamentally changed the investment landscape by allowing mainstream investors to gain Bitcoin exposure through familiar financial vehicles rather than cryptocurrency exchanges. - Retail investors currently show cautious sentiment amid market pullbacks, while institutional investors remain bullish on the multi-year opportunity driven by regulatory clarity and political support for crypto. - Bitwise positions itself as a specialized crypto-focused firm with 100+ dedicated professionals, differentiated from larger competitors through direct client relationships, transparency (publishing wallet addresses), and open-source Bitcoin developer support. - The traditional four-year Bitcoin cycle may be disrupted by overlapping catalysts: ETF inflows combined with post-election regulatory shifts and sovereign wealth fund participation, potentially extending the bull cycle beyond historical patterns. - Acquisitions of European ETF issuers and Ethereum staking providers reflect Bitwise's strategy to offer comprehensive services—from passive Bitcoin ETF holdings to active derivative strategies and staking—meeting evolving institutional demand.
#1338 Hunter Horsley & Matt Hougan | They Bought Billions In Bitcoin In Eight Weeks!
- Bitwise has conducted 20,000 meetings and calls with financial advisors over the past year and is executing 49 events across the country in the first six months of 2024 to educate wealth managers on Bitcoin and crypto opportunities. - The Bitcoin ETF approval has fundamentally shifted advisor conversations from operational and custody concerns (can it go to zero? how do you access it?) to position sizing, allocation strategy, and valuation questions. - Bitwise manages approximately $15 billion in assets across 15 funds, serves 3,000 wealth management firms and institutions, and crossed $2 billion in Bitcoin ETF assets within two months of launch in January 2024. - The firm employs a hybrid team combining software engineers from major tech companies (Google, Facebook, Slack) with experienced asset managers from BlackRock, Blackstone, and other institutions to build specialized expertise in the crypto asset class. - Media coverage has shifted from skepticism toward Bitcoin-specific narratives; mainstream finance personalities now openly discuss Bitcoin as a legitimate digital store of value rather than dismissing it. - The 20-basis-point fee on the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF bundles institutional-grade custody, KPMG audits, and professional portfolio management—positioning it as the lowest-cost option available at launch.
Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise Asset Management: Why Crypto Should be on Every Financial Advisors Radar
- Hunter Horsley's background at Instagram and Facebook informed his understanding of user experience friction, global scale, and the importance of building for mainstream adoption in crypto. - Bitwise Asset Management targets financial advisors and high-net-worth individuals rather than retail traders, positioning crypto as infrastructure that fits into conventional wealth management workflows. - Three primary reasons advisors are adopting crypto exposure: clients are already investing and pulling advisors in, portfolio mathematics show non-correlated returns improving risk-adjusted outcomes, and younger clients or wealth inheritees drive demand for crypto as a differentiator. - Common objections to crypto—security/custody, volatility, regulatory bans, lack of utility, criminal use, geopolitical risk, and supply inflation—are addressed through institutional infrastructure, portfolio context, transparent ledgers, and network effects. - Bitcoin and crypto represent nascent network technologies similar to iPhone or Facebook, not patentable IP; defensibility comes from network effects, not novel technical breakthroughs. - A Bitcoin spot ETF would dramatically lower friction for institutional and advisory adoption by providing SEC-stamped due diligence and a familiar fund structure; prior novel asset classes (gold, bonds, leverage, non-transparent) took 2–9 years to gain ETF approval.