Bitwise discloses ENS addresses for spot Ethereum ETF holdings

Bitwise’s ETHW is among several spot Ethereum ETH -0.32% exchange-traded funds set to begin trading in the U.S. on Tuesday, with the crypto asset manager publishing its wallet addresses for the fund’s ether holdings.

Although Bitwise had already committed to disclosing its Ethereum addresses for the fund, it becomes the first U.S. spot Ethereum ETF to publish them and set Ethereum Name Service (ENS) subnames for each, according to a post  on Tuesday.

ENS allows users to convert long, complicated Ethereum addresses into easy-to-remember names like "alice.eth," making it simpler to send and receive transactions.

Bitwise listed five addresses in the post, each resolving to a uniquely numbered ethw.bitwise.eth subname that holds the on-chain assets backing the ETF.

“This is the sort of transparency only crypto makes possible,” the firm wrote. “It allows anyone to verify ETHW’s holdings and flows directly on the blockchain, and it lets people easily build public dashboards or write smart contracts that utilize the available ENS records.”

“We’re thrilled to have collaborated with Bitwise to enhance transparency for its new Ethereum ETF using subnames of ethw.bitwise.eth,” Ethereum Name Service responded . “ETHW is now the most crypto-native ETF.”

Bitwise noted that it will add more addresses over time, with the latest addresses updated on ethwetf.com

The transparency effort follows a similar initiative in January after Bitwise published Bitcoin addresses for its spot Bitcoin ETF BITB’s holdings.

Spot Ethereum ETFs set to begin trading

Registration statements became effective Monday for firms vying for a spot Ethereum ETF — marking the final sign-off for those products to begin trading today.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allowed registration forms from 21Shares, Bitwise , BlackRock , Fidelity , Franklin Templeton , VanEck and Invesco to go effective as of Monday afternoon. Registration forms for the Grayscale Ethereum Trust and the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust also went effective on Monday. 

Bitwise’s ETHW will trade on the NYSE, with Coinbase selected as its digital asset custodian. The fund has a management fee of 0.2%, reduced to 0% for six months on the first $500 million in assets.

On Monday, Bitwise announced that 10% of profits from the ETF will be donated to open-source Ethereum developers.