Crypto: Bitwise Shuts Down Its Dogecoin ETF Less Than a Year After Launch

Bitwise will close BWOW, its Dogecoin ETF launched at the end of November 2025. The fund held only about 688,000 dollars in net assets as of September 9, according to data cited by Cointelegraph. Its last session on the NYSE Arca is scheduled for October 14, then the remaining investors will be reimbursed in cash around October 22. Less than eleven months were therefore enough to end this crypto experiment. 

Crypto: BWOW never really found its audience

Bitwise launched BWOW on November 26, 2025 with a simple idea: to allow investors to get direct exposure to Dogecoin from a traditional brokerage account. At that time, the NYSE had just given its green light to Bitwise’s Dogecoin ETF.

The product charged 0.34% per year. Bitwise had even waived these fees during the first month for the first 500 million dollars of assets. The manager then presented Dogecoin as a “crypto movement icon,” despite its origins as a memecoin and its alleged lack of fundamental utility.

The launch brought about 3 million dollars in volume during the first session. It did not last. The Block indicates that BWOW never regained this daily level.

Cointribune already noted in December the rapid decline of interest in Dogecoin ETFs. The total volume of DOGE products had then fallen to only 142,000 dollars in one session, far from their early days. BWOW kept trading. The capital, much less.

The filings submitted to the SEC already told of the decline

BWOW’s quarterly document reveals a figure that the closure announcement does not directly show.

As of December 31, 2025, the fund had 1.15 million dollars in net assets. As of June 30, 2026, only 473,547 dollars remained. The decrease reached about 59% in six months. The fund then held 6.56 million DOGE, valued at about 473,699 dollars. Their acquisition cost was almost 1 million dollars.

Another detail: no new shares were created during the first six months of 2026. However, 20,000 shares were redeemed, representing approximately 406,971 dollars of outflows due to redemptions. The decline of Dogecoin did the rest. The price used by the fund fell from 0.116546 dollars at the end of December to 0.072199 dollars at the end of June.

The story actually starts with more money. At the launch, a Bitwise subsidiary had bought the first 100,000 shares for 2.5 million dollars, at 25 dollars each. By the end of June, only 40,000 shares remained outstanding.

The fund then slightly recovered. BWOW’s official website showed 721,815 dollars in assets as of September 8, with 50,000 shares outstanding. Cointelegraph then gives about 688,000 dollars as of September 9. The two figures are dated one day apart and notably reflect variations of DOGE. Still less than one million. For a product listed on the NYSE Arca, the size remains tiny.

Bitwise cleans its range, not its crypto activity

Bitwise does not say it is closing BWOW because it no longer believes in Dogecoin. In its press release, the manager simply speaks of a desire “to optimize its product range” according to the evolving needs of investors. The closure was decided on September 10.

The schedule is already set. October 14 will be the last trading day. After the market closes, Bitwise will start converting the DOGE held by the fund into cash. New share creations will end before the opening on October 15.

Investors who hold BWOW until the end will have nothing to do. They will automatically receive in cash the net asset value of their shares calculated on October 21, with payment expected around October 22.

This closure is not the first at Bitwise in 2026. In May, the manager had already decided to liquidate two other ETFs, BWEB and BTOP, as part of a portfolio adjustment.

The company remains very active in crypto. Its catalog still includes products linked to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Chainlink and Avalanche, among others.

The Dogecoin case remains telling. In 2025, the multiplication of altcoin ETF filings had created high expectations. The SEC had even delayed several decisions concerning Bitwise and other issuers before the new listing rules came into effect. Approval eventually came. Investors much less. BWOW succeeded in bringing Dogecoin to the NYSE Arca. It just did not manage to attract enough capital to stay.