Cryptocurrency-related Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have taken the two top spots for the worst-performing ETFs in Australia for the year, with the same story playing out in the United States.
BetaShares Crypto Innovators ETF (CRYP) and Cosmos Global Digital Miners Access ETF (DIGA) have provided investors down under with respective negative returns of nearly 82% and 72% year to date (YTD) until Dec. 30.
BetaShares launched its ETF on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Oct. 2021 mere weeks before most cryptocurrencies hit all-time highs that they’re yet to regain.
CRYP provides exposure to publicly listed blockchain and crypto companies such as the Coinbase exchange and mining company Riot Blockchain amongst others. The largest current holding at 12.3% of its portfolio is Mike Novogratz's investment firm Galaxy Digital.
Cosmos’ DIGA ETF tracked the performance of a portfolio of companies focused on mining Bitcoin (BTC) or other cryptocurrencies through the Global Digital Miners Index.
DIGA was similarly listed at a poor time in Oct. 2021 on the Cboe Australia exchange.
Only a year later Cosmos requested the ETF, along with two others tracking BTC and Ether (ETH), to be delisted from Cboe in Oct. 2022 as declining interest in crypto saw the funds' net asset value dip below $1 million.
U.S.-based ETFs have seen a similar pattern as the top four worst-performing ETFs are crypto-related according to ETF.com data. This however excludes inverse and leveraged funds.
The worst performer was the Viridi Bitcoin Miners ETF (RIGZ) aiming to provide exposure to publicly listed crypto miners such as Riot and CleanSpark. It provided investors with a negative 87% return YTD.
VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP), the Bitwise Crypto
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