Bitwise Asset Management is moving into tokenised private funds by taking over investment management of Superstate Crypto Carry Fund, a crypto basis vehicle known as USCC, in a deal that gives one of the sector’s largest asset managers a ready-made onchain product with institutional traction.Announced on 7 May, the transition is expected to take effect on 1 June 2026. USCC will be renamed Bitwise Crypto Carry Fund, while retaining its ticker, smart contracts and token address. Superstate will step back from portfolio management but continue to run the onchain infrastructure that supports issuance, transfer agency functions and digital fund operations.
USCC had more than $267 million in assets under management as of 30 April, with some market trackers placing the figure closer to the high-$270 million range around the time of the announcement. The fund is available to qualified purchasers and seeks to earn yield through crypto cash-and-carry trades, a strategy that attempts to capture the gap between spot prices and futures prices across major digital assets.
For Bitwise, the move extends its business beyond exchange-traded products, separately managed accounts, private funds, hedge fund strategies and staking. The San Francisco-based firm manages about $11 billion in client assets and serves wealth managers, family offices, banks, broker-dealers and institutional investors across more than 70 investment products.
USCC’s strategy sits in a market segment where crypto-native institutions have looked for yield without taking outright directional exposure to token prices. Cash-and-carry trades typically involve buying an asset in the spot market while selling a futures contract, aiming to profit from the premium embedded in futures pricing. The trade can narrow sharply in volatile markets, making execution, collateral management and counterparty controls central to performance.
Superstate’s fund materials show exposure linked to Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP futures, alongside collateral assets and US Treasury-linked holdings. The fund can be held through tokenised shares on supported networks or through book-entry records. Ethereum accounts for the largest share of onchain distribution, followed by book-entry holdings, Solana and Plume. USCC is also integrated into DeFi lending venues including Aave, Kamino and Morpho.
The structure highlights the hybrid model now emerging in tokenised finance. Investors receive blockchain-based representation of fund ownership, but the underlying vehicle remains a private fund governed by securities rules, eligibility limits and offering documents. The fund’s service providers include Anchorage Digital as custodian, Ernst & Young as auditor and NAV Fund Services as NAV calculation agent.
Superstate, founded by Robert Leshner, has positioned itself as infrastructure provider rather than merely a fund sponsor. Its FundOS platform is designed to support onchain funds, while its broader product set includes USTB, a tokenised US Treasury-backed fund, and Opening Bell, a platform aimed at compliant onchain equity issuance. The Bitwise handover reinforces that strategic shift, allowing Superstate to concentrate on technology, transfer agency and tokenisation rails.
The transaction comes as tokenised real-world assets have gained momentum among asset managers, fintech firms and blockchain networks. Market dashboards tracking tokenised assets show distributed real-world asset value in the tens of billions of dollars, with tokenised US Treasury products among the strongest categories. Stablecoins remain much larger, but Treasury-backed tokens and tokenised funds have become a testing ground for institutional adoption because they combine familiar yield-bearing assets with blockchain settlement.
Bitwise’s entry adds a recognised crypto asset manager to a field that already includes BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Ondo Finance, Circle, WisdomTree and other firms competing to bring funds, government debt, money-market exposure and private strategies onchain. The appeal lies in faster settlement, programmable transfers, collateral utility and expanded access for approved investors, though legal enforceability, investor protection, liquidity and smart-contract risks remain unresolved issues across the industry.
Regulation will shape the pace of adoption. USCC’s shares are offered through private-market exemptions and are not registered under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Investment Company Act of 1940. That framework limits access to eligible investors and places greater importance on disclosure, custody, valuation and transfer controls. Tokenisation may alter how fund interests move, but it does not remove market, operational or legal risk.
For investors already using USCC, the June transition is designed to avoid disruption. Bitwise takes over investment management, Superstate keeps the infrastructure role, and the fund’s identity onchain remains intact. That continuity is important because tokenised funds depend not only on manager reputation but also on confidence that wallets, smart contracts, compliance checks and ownership records will keep functioning through corporate changes.
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Cryptocurrency