Crypto asset manager Bitwise is shutting down its Dogecoin exchange-traded fund less than a year after it launched, with the fund holding roughly $722,000 in net assets as of September 8.
Final Trading Day Set for October 14
Bitwise announced it will liquidate BWOW, with October 14 expected to be the fund’s last trading day on NYSE Arca. Remaining shareholders will receive cash equal to the net asset value of their shares as of October 21, with payments expected on October 22, 2026.
‘Shareholders do not need to take any action during this process,’ Bitwise wrote in its announcement.
The firm said the closure was part of efforts to ‘optimize its product range to meet evolving investor needs,’ though it did not cite the fund’s asset level as a reason for the decision.
A Short Run for BWOW
The BWOW fund began trading on November 26, 2025, giving investors a way to gain exposure to Dogecoin through standard brokerage accounts without holding the cryptocurrency directly. Its planned liquidation comes just under 11 months after launch, well short of its first anniversary.
As of the time of the announcement, the fund held approximately 8.2 million DOGE worth around $688,000, according to the fund’s own website.
From Delaware Registration to Closure
Bitwise began working toward the fund in January 2025 by registering a Dogecoin ETF entity in Delaware. In November 2025, it removed a delaying amendment from its SEC registration statement, allowing the filing to become effective after 20 days without agency intervention, clearing the way for the November launch.
At the time of launch, Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley pointed to the size of the Dogecoin community as a key rationale for the product.
‘Bitwise is launching BWOW because many DOGE holders, a community that numbers in the millions, want the benefit that comes from getting exposure to crypto in an ETP format, and we believe they should have it,’ Horsley said in November 2025.
Broader Altcoin ETF Wave
BWOW launched during a wave of crypto fund introductions as issuers moved beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum to offer products tracking other tokens. Grayscale introduced its own Dogecoin and XRP ETFs days before BWOW began trading, reflecting the competitive push into meme coin and altcoin fund territory at the time.
An exchange-traded fund allows investors to buy and sell shares on a stock exchange to gain exposure to underlying assets, whether stocks, bonds, or cryptocurrencies, without owning those assets directly.
Grayscale’s fund is still trading. GDOG holds roughly $8.7 million in assets, around twelve times what BWOW managed to gather, though still a modest figure for an exchange-traded product. That comparison is CNR’s own, drawn from fund-tracking data rather than from either issuer’s announcement.
