Stone Ridge board approved plan for 'liquidation and dissolution' of its Bitcoin fund

Stone Ridge Asset Management, whose holding company is behind the New York Digital Investment Group, has filed notice with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission that it will liquidate its Bitcoin Strategy Fund.

In a Monday SEC filing, the asset manager said the Stone Ridge Trust board of trustees approved a Friday plan to liquidate and dissolve its Stone Ridge Bitcoin Strategy Fund, first filed with the SEC in July 2021. According to the plan, the asset management firm will continue to operate the fund through Oct. 3, after which time it will “reduce the fund to cash” in preparation for liquidation and distribution to shareholders.

“The liquidation of the Fund is expected to take place on or about October 21, 2022,” said the filing. “Effective after the close of business on October 3, 2022, the Fund’s shares will generally no longer be available for purchase.”

According to its July 2021 prospectus, the Bitcoin (BTC) strategy fund aimed to offer exposure to the cryptocurrency via futures markets, as the SEC has not approved spot investment vehicles linked to BTC. The asset manager said at the time the objective of the fund was “capital appreciation.”

Data from Yahoo Finance showed the fund held roughly $2.8 million in net assets at the time of publication. A Stone Ridge semi-annual report from April 2022 said more than half — 50.5% — of the funds were allocated to foreign government agency bonds and the fund had more than $10.9 million in total net assets.

Related: Simplify files with SEC for Bitcoin Strategy Risk-Managed Income ETF

In October 2020, Stone Ridge purchased 10,000 BTC through the NYDIG as part of a post-pandemic investment strategy, making it one of the largest BTC holders among private companies. At the time of publication, the price of Bitcoin was $22,230, hitting a three-week high on Monday.