Bitwise CEO Calls Dogecoin ETF’s Final Days…

Bitwise's Dogecoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), trading under the ticker BWOW, will accept its last trades on 14 October on NYSE Arca, with cash distributions expected around 22 October at the fund's 21 October net asset value (NAV). The fund held roughly $725,870 in assets under management (AUM) on 7 October, according to SoSoValue data cited by The Block, down from $2.5 million in initial seed capital invested by a Bitwise affiliate at launch in November 2025. The decline in assets reflects both investor redemptions and a roughly 45% drop in the fund's net asset value (NAV), rather than investment losses alone.

How the Liquidation Unfolded

Bitwise announced the fund's closure on 10 September in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At the time of the announcement, BWOW held $687,713 in assets, equivalent to 8,195,053 DOGE, Forbes reported.A Bitwise affiliate initially invested $2.5 million in the fund. By the time the liquidation was announced, the fund's assets had fallen to approximately $688,000 following investor redemptions and a roughly 45% decline in NAV. Creation of new shares will cease before the market opens on 15 October, according to the SEC filing. The fund will calculate its final NAV on 21 October and distribute cash to remaining shareholders on approximately 22 October. Bitwise stated that "shareholders do not need to take any action during this process," though holders who prefer to sell at market prices must do so by the 14 October close. The cash distribution is generally a taxable event.

Horsley Says ETF Buyers Simply Did Not Want DOGE

Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, discussed the fund's failure at the Digital Asset Summit 2026 Asia. He framed the outcome as a mismatch between the audiences that trade crypto on brokerage apps and the investors who allocate through ETFs. Horsley told The Block that he sees a "delta" between those two groups and that the gap defined BWOW's fate from the start. "The users of ETFs just didn't want to put money into Dogecoin, but that may change over time," Horsley told The Block. He also described the result as "tragic" and said he personally owns Dogecoin and likes the asset. BWOW's September trading volume totalled approximately $51,480, underscoring the depth of investor disinterest.

What Stayed Open and What It Signals

BWOW's closure does not end spot Dogecoin ETF access in the United States. Grayscale's GDOG and 21Shares' TDOG continue to trade, while REX-Osprey's DOJE remains available as a non-spot Dogecoin fund, Forbes noted. After BWOW's closure, GDOG and TDOG are the two remaining US spot Dogecoin ETFs.Grayscale's fund had attracted $11.7 million in cumulative inflows as of 10 September, while 21Shares had collected $1.63 million over the same period, modest sums that still dwarf BWOW's trajectory. Bitwise itself has not retreated from crypto ETFs. Its Solana staking ETF, BSOL, holds approximately $1.3 billion in net assets and has benefited from yield generation that a memecoin product cannot offer.The company also launched a NEAR Protocol ETF and filed for an AI Bond ETF and an AI Cyber Defense ETF, according to the AI Bond ETF filing and the AI Cyber Defense ETF filing.

A Cautionary Data Point for Meme ETFs

Bruno Caratori, co-founder and Global Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hashdex, offered a broader view on the podcast On The Margin. Bitwise's risk disclosure for BWOW stated plainly that "DOGE is a memecoin that does not aim to provide utility" and that "most memecoins have no stated use case or intrinsic value, other than as a digital collector's item."

What Holders Should Know

Shareholders who do not sell by the 14 October close will receive cash at the 21 October NAV, with payment expected around 22 October. That payout is generally a taxable event. The fund recorded a NAV return of negative 45.37% through 30 August and lifetime net outflows of $1.23 million.