Inside Bitwise Europe: Interview With Bradley Duke on Markets, Regulation, and Crypto Products

With a strong background in financial services and technology, Bradley Duke knows the ins and outs of digital asset investments and the drivers of market sentiment. Duke is the Managing Director at Bitwise Asset Management Europe, leading the firm’s expansion in the European market.

Earlier in his career, Duke worked at the investment bank Jefferies and the trading firm KCG. He later entered the crypto industry and, in 2019, co-founded ETC Group, whose Bitcoin product, BTCE, saw strong demand in Europe. In August 2024, Bitwise – the world’s largest crypto index fund manager – acquired ETC Group, and Duke joined the Bitwise leadership team.

As a crypto index fund manager, Bitwise offers a broad range of ETPs (Exchange-Traded Products) that track the prices of underlying assets and provide exposure to over 20 crypto assets.

One of the latest products launched by Bitwise Europe was the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP, which was listed on Deutsche Börse in early July 2025. Bradley Duke rang the bell at the event, marking the product’s official launch.

According to him, crypto and AI are highly dynamic sectors, and the team behind NEAR has anticipated how the two will interact: optimizing their blockchain accordingly.

Duke actively engages with the blockchain community, speaking at events like the Digital Assets Innovation Summit in London, sharing updates on social media, and answering questions. We asked him to comment on the current state of the crypto market, regulatory developments, and investment opportunities across different jurisdictions.

Bitcoin at the Time of Geopolitical Uncertainty 

The Israel–Iran conflict in June 2025 caused a decline in Bitcoin’s mining hashrate, meaning the number of machines securing the network dropped, as some mining pools rely on Iranian energy infrastructure. This sparked active discussion, with some analysts highlighting how both technical and political events can affect Bitcoin.

We asked Bradley Duke if he believes real-world geopolitical risks are directly intertwined with crypto-asset performance.

GNcrypto: We’ve recently seen how the Iran-Israel conflict impacted Bitcoin’s hashrate. From an asset manager’s perspective, how do you begin to model and hedge against these new, real-world geopolitical risks that are now directly intertwined with crypto-asset performance?

Bradley Duke: At Bitwise Europe, our products offer investors exposure to price movements in the underlying crypto, whether it’s Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, or a basket of cryptocurrencies. As such, we don’t hedge against geopolitical risks.

Our research team has found that Bitcoin, for example, is increasingly being seen as a safe haven asset in times of geopolitical uncertainty alongside gold.

Read more in Bitwise’s report: Bitcoin as a hedge against geopolitical risks?

Staking Rewards Set Europe Apart in Crypto ETPs, Says Duke

Bitwise Asset Management was founded in 2017 in the U.S. and is the largest crypto index fund manager in America, according to its official website. The company began its European expansion in 2020 with the debut of the BTCetc – Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto (Ticker: BTCE) on Deutsche Börse’s XETRA platform. Since then, Bitwise has built a strong presence in the European market as well.

Speaking about the regulatory differences between the U.S. and European markets, Duke highlighted two key areas – issuance and returns: 

“1. In Europe one can issue crypto ETPs on a multitude of cryptocurrencies and baskets of cryptocurrencies whereas in the US the SEC has limited the ETF market to just Bitcoin and Ethereum for now. This is likely to change soon. 

2. In Europe, crypto ETPs can also include staking rewards which is not possible at the moment in the US. Investors’ appetite in the US is probably more developed than in Europe because the current administration and SEC are strongly pro-crypto which brings greater investor confidence in the asset class,” he explains. 

Our next question was about product categories with growth potential in Europe.

GNcrypto: What kind of product do you believe has the biggest untapped potential in Europe right now?

Bradley Duke: Investor demand shifts over time and timing a product launch to coincide with rising investor demand is tricky. I believe we will see the growth in index ETPs giving exposure to a basket of cryptocurrencies for investors that want to “Buy the market” and not have to pick winners. 

Bitwise’s DA20 product, in conjunction with MSCI, does just that giving exposure to the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap but capped at 30% and rebalanced quarterly.

How Bitwise Adapts to European Rules, and Speaks to Skeptics 

Discussing market differences further, we asked about Bitwise’s practices and offerings for Europe:

GNcrypto: Can you give a concrete example of how a Bitwise investment product or strategy must be structured differently for a European client versus a U.S. client, specifically because of regulatory differences?

Bradley Duke: Yes, Bitwise’s European crypto ETPs can be bought and sold on major stock exchanges in EUR, USD, CHF, and GBP, but they can also be created and redeemed in the primary market in-kind, meaning, for example, BTCE and BTC1 the two Bitwise Bitcoin ETPs, can be redeemed for actual bitcoin on demand. This differs strongly from the US ETFs, which can only be cash-created and redeemed.

GNcrypto: When you speak with traditional European wealth managers or family offices who are still skeptical, what is the single most effective argument or data point you use to convince them that a 1-5% allocation to crypto is not just a wild gamble, but a prudent part of a modern, diversified portfolio?

Bradley Duke: We have advanced portfolio studies that show that an allocation of this size increases the Sharpe and Sortino ratios (risk-adjusted return measures) significantly without increasing the max drawdown of the portfolio with minimal changes in volatility. 

During our conversation with Duke, we also asked if Bitwise engages with DeFi or on-chain strategies. He explained that Bitwise Europe does not invest ETP-backed assets in DeFi or other risky on-chain strategies. The assets backing the ETPs are held in custody and cannot be financially encumbered. Their sole purpose is to back the issued securities.

Bitwise’s Approach to Crypto Investing in Europe 

Bitwise Europe continues its expansion in the market, with the launch of products like the Bitwise NEAR Staking ETP demonstrating the firm’s focus on combining new features such as staking rewards with broad crypto exposure. In our interview, Duke emphasized the importance of aligning product offerings with regulatory requirements and shifting investor demand. He noted that Bitwise’s approach provides investors with diversified exposure to digital assets while maintaining attention to risk management and market developments.