Hashdex to Liquidate Smallest U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETF

Hashdex will liquidate its spot-price Bitcoin exchange-traded fund this month, selling roughly 225 BTC and returning the cash proceeds to remaining shareholders. The wind-down ends a more than two-year run for the smallest U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETF.

In a regulatory filing, Hashdex said it will wind down the fund and sell its Bitcoin holdings “in the coming weeks,” with cash returned to about 200,000 outstanding shares. The shares have traded on NYSE Arca under the DEFI ticker since March 2024. The fund currently reports net assets of $14.25 million.

The filing listed trading liquidity, operating costs and investor interest as the factors evaluated in an internal review that led to the liquidation decision. The fund holds about 225 BTC that will be sold as part of the wind-down process.

Hashdex launched the product in 2022 as a Bitcoin futures ETF and later introduced a spot-price version that began trading under DEFI in March 2024. The fund never exceeded $18 million in net assets and reached a peak of $17.54 million on May 9, 2025.

Other U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs hold larger asset bases; for example, WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust (BTCW) reported net assets of about $140.37 million at the most recent market close.

The filing says sales of the Bitcoin holdings will occur in the coming weeks and that cash distributions will follow after the sales and final accounting. No exact distribution dates were provided in the filing.

In March 2024, senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote that investors might still show interest in a late-entering product if its fee was competitive.