Hashdex will close and liquidate the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF (NYSE Arca: DEFI) after trading ends on August 17, the first US spot bitcoin ETF to wind down since the category launched in January 2024. The fund held roughly $14.7 million in assets as of July 30, according to the sponsor’s August 3 announcement. WisdomTree’s BTCW, the next smallest fund in the group, holds $142.4 million. BlackRock’s IBIT holds $47.08 billion. Shareholders who still own DEFI at the close of the last trading day will receive a cash liquidating distribution expected on or about August 28.
A spot bitcoin ETF holds bitcoin directly and trades on a stock exchange, so investors get price exposure through an ordinary brokerage account without taking custody of the coins.
Key takeaways
- DEFI stops trading on NYSE Arca after August 17 and stops accepting creation orders the same day. Cash proceeds are due on or about August 28.
- The fund managed $14.7 million as of July 30, the smallest of the US spot bitcoin ETFs and the lowest cumulative net inflows in the group.
- US spot bitcoin ETFs have posted net outflows in each of the past three months, according to SoSoValue, even as the category still holds $77.6 billion.
- Hashdex keeps more than $200 million in US-available products, including its Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF (NCIQ).
Published: August 5, 2026, 09:15 UTC
A late launch the fund never recovered from
DEFI’s problem was arithmetic, not strategy. Hashdex introduced the fund as a bitcoin futures product in September 2022 and did not convert it into a spot vehicle until late March 2024, nearly three months after IBIT started trading. By then the distribution race was effectively decided.
The fee schedule gave investors no reason to switch. DEFI carried a 0.25% expense ratio at conversion, matching what BlackRock and Fidelity charged for larger and more liquid funds. Hashdex cited assets under management, trading liquidity, operating costs, investor interest and product fit when it authorized the liquidation.
Bitcoin futures ETFs have closed before, including VanEck’s XBTF in 2024, and Cosmos Asset Management delisted Australian spot bitcoin and ether funds in November 2022 after they gathered about A$1.1 million between them. No US fund holding bitcoin directly had been liquidated until now.
Investors are paying for AI instead
The closure lands in the middle of a sustained rotation out of crypto funds. US spot bitcoin ETFs have recorded net outflows in each of the past three months, according to SoSoValue data, and the money is going somewhere specific.
BlackRock’s iShares Future AI & Tech ETF gained 39% through July and held $3.6 billion in assets, while the CoinDesk 20 index fell roughly 36% over a comparable stretch. “Much of the market views the opportunity cost of holding BTC as too high while anything AI-related soars,” K33 Research head Vetle Lunde wrote in a June report.
Bitcoin traded near $64,037 on Wednesday, up about 1% over 24 hours. The pressure on issuers is not coming from price collapse. It is coming from a competing trade that has outperformed for most of the year, a pattern that also showed up when crypto ETF money rotated out of bitcoin into XRP and Solana in June and when the funds shed $225 million during a bond yield spike in July.
What DEFI holders need to do
Holders have until the close of business on August 17 to sell shares on the open market, and customary brokerage charges apply. Anyone still holding after that date is a passive participant in the wind-down.
The distribution will equal the net asset value per share on the liquidation date, net of closing and transaction costs, according to the trust’s SEC filing. That number is not fixed. The fund has to sell its remaining bitcoin after August 17, and any move in the bitcoin price during that window flows straight through to the payout. Holders receive dollars, not bitcoin.
Concentration, not collapse
One fund closing does not signal the category is failing. US spot bitcoin ETFs hold $77.6 billion in net assets and have taken $51.5 billion in cumulative net inflows since January 2024.
What the numbers show is concentration. IBIT alone has absorbed $60.5 billion of those inflows and Fidelity’s FBTC roughly $9.95 billion, while Grayscale’s converted GBTC has bled $27.47 billion. In a market where the leader charges the same fee as everyone else and trades with far tighter spreads, small funds have no obvious wedge. WisdomTree’s BTCW, at $142.4 million, is now the smallest survivor.
Expect more subscale funds to face the same review, particularly among the newer bitcoin income and altcoin products launched in 2026, where asset gathering has been slower and issuer patience is shorter.
Frequently asked questions
Do DEFI shareholders lose money in the liquidation?
No, the fund is not insolvent. Holders receive the net asset value of their shares as of the liquidation date, reduced by closing and transaction costs. The final figure also depends on where bitcoin trades while the fund sells its remaining holdings after August 17.
Is this the first US crypto ETF to close?
It is the first US spot bitcoin ETF to liquidate. Bitcoin futures ETFs have closed before, including VanEck’s XBTF in 2024. Spot crypto funds have also been pulled outside the US, such as Cosmos Asset Management’s Australian bitcoin and ether ETFs in November 2022.
Is Hashdex leaving the US market?
No. The sponsor still manages more than $200 million across products available to US investors, including the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF (NCIQ). DEFI was the sole series of the Hashdex Commodities Trust and the smallest fund in its US lineup.
