Bitwise pledges to donate 10% of Ethereum ETF

Bitwise Asset Management said it will allocate 10% of profits from its spot Ethereum ETF toward supporting Ethereum open-source development.

Bitwise, a crypto index fund manager, said in a press release on Monday it would donate some of the profits from its spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) to Ethereum developers in a bid to support open-source development.

In the announcement, the Chicago-headquartered firm said it will send 10% of profits of the Bitwise Ethereum ETF to two organizations: Protocol Guild, a funding organization, and PBS Foundation, a non-profit research entity. The asset manager says the donations “have no strings attached” and will be made annually “for at least the next 10 years.”

Bitwise CTO Hong Kim says the firm wants to provide an additional source of funding for “unsung heroes who work tirelessly to improve the Ethereum network’s security, scalability, and usability every day.” In addition to Ethereum, Bitwise earlier also pledged to donate 10% of profits from its spot Bitcoin ETF to Brink, OpenSats, and the Human Rights Foundation’s Bitcoin Development Fund.

The announcement comes as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) signed off on spot Ethereum ETF applications from Bitwise Asset Management, BlackRock, and 21Shares among others, paving the way for broader institutional adoption and increased investor access to Ethereum.

As crypto.news reported earlier, the SEC first approved applications for spot Ethereum ETFs at the end of May. However, firms were still awaiting approval for their S-1 filings before trading could officially begin.