Valkyrie to Liquidate Bitcoin Balance Sheet ETF After Limited Uptake

Crypto asset manager Valkyrie Funds said Tuesday it will liquidate its Balance Sheet Opportunities ETF (VBB), a bitcoin bull-focused investment vehicle that fizzled during its less than one year life.

The fund will be liquidated at the end of October, said the company in a statement, and then delisted from Nasdaq where it has traded since December 2021. Investors who hold the exchange-traded fund through liquidation will get a cash redemption for the value of their shares, according to regulatory filings.

The fund’s dissolution “was the best course of action,” Valkyrie said, noting the decision to cut it was “part of an ongoing review of products aimed at ensuring the firm best meets client demand.”

Investors never showed much demand for Valkyrie’s third ETF, where the largest positions are Tesla (TSLA) and MicroStrategy (MSTR), companies known for holding bitcoin on their balance sheets. Net assets under management are currently only about $570,000, a miniscule number for ETFs.

VBB’s lineup of crypto-savvy stocks (not all of them held bitcoin) underperformed the S&P 500 for the year to date, shedding over 50% of its value versus a 25% decline for the benchmark index.

Valkyrie declined to comment.