Simplify Asset Management has launched a new actively managed ETF combining US equities with a modest allocation to bitcoin.

Paul Kim, CEO of Simplify Asset Management.

The Simplify US Equity PLUS GBTC ETF (SPBC US) has been listed on Nasdaq with an expense ratio of 0.50%.

The fund will invest at least 80% of its assets in liquid, third-party ETFs that provide passive exposure to the S&P 500, while also maintaining a 10% to 15% allocation to bitcoin via the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

The ETF delivers a strategy that would otherwise be unavailable to retail investors due to the high costs of regularly rebalancing bitcoin exposure.

The fund also offers the tax efficiency that is a hallmark of the ETF structure, and investors will not be required to deal with the cumbersome K-1 tax form as the investment in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is coordinated through a Cayman Islands subsidiary.

Paul Kim, CEO of Simplify Asset Management, said: “Cryptocurrency markets now exceed $2 trillion in value and account for more than 1% of the overall global market portfolio. In addition, recent research has shown how uncorrelated crypto assets are to equity and fixed income markets, making them a possibly compelling part of a well-diversified portfolio.

“But allocating to crypto assets is difficult since over-the-counter offerings can present a host of challenges for investors and advisors, managing direct crypto exposure can be incredibly time-consuming and onerous, and there remains no ETF on the market providing direct exposure to crypto itself.

“We’re very pleased to be launching SPBC, as a means of solving these challenges, providing a liquid, scalable way to add Bitcoin exposure to a portfolio.”