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Strive Asset Management plans to launch an exchange traded fund investing in bonds issued by companies to pay for bitcoin investments, according to a regulatory filing.
The ETF manager, co-founded and majority-owned by Vivek Ramaswamy, a high-profile “anti-woke” ally of president-elect Donald Trump, has registered the Strive Bitcoin Bond ETF with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The actively managed ETF will invest directly and indirectly through derivative instruments, including swaps and options, to get exposure to convertible securities issued by companies that Strive “expects will invest all or a significant portion of the proceeds to purchase Bitcoin”, according to the filing.
The filing refers specifically to MicroStrategy, a software company that has invested more than $27bn in bitcoin since adopting the cryptocurrency as its primary Treasury reserve asset in 2020, prompting its share price to surge. The company’s shares are up nearly 600 per cent over the past year.
Strive expects that at least 80 per cent of the notional exposure of the New York-listed ETF will be to the “bitcoin bonds” issued by MicroStrategy and other companies, the filing indicates.
Matthew Cole, chief executive and chief investment officer of Strive, will manage the fund alongside portfolio managers Jeffrey Sherman and Randol Curtis, who is also the CIO of Strive’s wealth management business.
The public profile of Strive has been on an upward surge following Trump’s victory in last month’s US presidential election.
Ramaswamy had been a vocal supporter of Trump during his presidential campaign and will lead the new department of government efficiency, along with Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, to be formed after Trump takes office.
