Bitwise Unveils Institutional-Grade DeFi Funds for Aave (AAVE) and Uniswap (UNI)
Digital asset manager Bitwise today announced the launch of two DeFi blue-chip token funds.
Bitwise Launches DeFi Products Amid Rising Demand
Bitwise, a digital asset management firm with more than $1 billion worth of digital assets under management today unveiled two funds for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol tokens, Coindesk reports.
The two funds, based on AAVE and UNI are the latest addition to Bitwise’s catalog of institutional-grade investment vehicles.
Per sources close to the matter, the aforementioned DeFi funds will invest directly in one of two large cap DeFi blue chips – AAVE of the leading DeFi borrowing and lending protocol, Aave, and UNI which is the governance token for the leading decentralized exchange, Uniswap.
While Bitwise already has a suite of crypto-based products such as bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), and a wide variety of index funds – including one for DeFi – this is the first time it has launched specific funds for major DeFi tokens. According to Bitwise’s CIO, Matt Hougan, the launch of AAVE and UNI funds is in line with investor demands.
Institutions Want More of DeFi
The latest move by Bitwise to launch AAVE and UNI-based funds is a clear reminder of how DeFi is being actively pursued by traditional finance players looking for avenues to park their wealth in return for competitive yields.
As previously reported by BTCManager, Aave Founder, Stani Kulechov confirmed the plans of developing Aave Pro – a KYC-enabled DeFi product geared toward institutions that will help them benefit from permissioned liquidity pools.
In similar news, another leading DeFi protocol, Compound (COMP) announced the launch of Compound Treasury to cater to the institutional demand for DeFi products such as earning high yields on crypto assets, quick liquidity access, and others.
The pivot toward DeFi has been evident from traditional finance and publicly traded firms too.
On June 25, BTCManager reported how Circle – the company in charge of the leading stablecoin USDC – shared its plans to launch its DeFi application programming interface (API) to make it easier for legacy finance firms to enter the novel DeFi waters.
Most recently, Grayscale Investments announced the launch of a DeFi blue-chip fund based on Coindesk’s DeFi-specific index.
