Hashdex to liquidate smallest US spot Bitcoin ETF
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- Hashdex announced it will liquidate its spot-price Bitcoin ETF (ticker: DEFI) after evaluating trading liquidity, operating costs, and investor interest, according to a Monday filing.
- The DEFI fund holds roughly 225 BTC and 200,000 shares, has traded on NYSE ARCA since March 2024, and carries $14.25 million in net assets — making it the smallest among US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs.
- Remaining shareholders will receive cash distributions in the coming weeks as Hashdex sells the fund's Bitcoin holdings.
- The ETF originally launched in 2022 as the Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF before converting to spot in March 2024, arriving after 10 other competing spot BTC ETFs had already debuted.
- Its highest asset level was $17.54 million, reached on May 9, 2025, per SoSoValue data, and the fund never attracted more than $18 million in net assets.
- The next-smallest US-traded spot Bitcoin ETF is WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust (BTCW), with $140.37 million in net assets as of Friday's market close — nearly 10x the DEFI fund's size.
- Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas expressed cautious optimism at the fund's March 2024 launch, writing 'the getting is so good right now I could see this one getting some bites (if the fee is competitive) despite being so late.'
Why it matters: The DEFI fund's failure to scale beyond $18 million — versus WisdomTree's $140.37 million as the next-smallest US spot Bitcoin ETF — shows how ruthlessly the spot BTC ETF market consolidated around the largest issuers after launch, leaving late entrants structurally disadvantaged on liquidity and visibility.
