Bitwise Crypto Carry Fund yield rises to 6% amid basis expansion

Bitwise’s Crypto Carry Fund is now yielding nearly 6%, up from roughly 4% just a couple of months ago. The 30-day SEC yield hit 5.90% as of August 25, a jump that coincides with a widening futures basis across major crypto assets.

For context, a futures basis trade is one of the oldest tricks in finance: you buy the spot asset, short the futures contract, and pocket the difference. When futures trade at a premium to spot (a condition called contango), this spread generates yield without requiring any opinion on where prices are headed.

Inside the fund’s mechanics

The fund, trading under the ticker USCC, holds a portfolio of major digital assets including Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, and XRP on the long side. Simultaneously, it shorts the corresponding futures contracts. The spread between spot and futures prices is where the money comes from.

But USCC isn’t running a plain vanilla basis trade. The fund also holds positions in liquid staking and restaking tokens like EtherFi’s wrapped eETH (weETH) and JitoSOL, a staked Solana derivative. These positions layer additional yield on top of the basis capture.

The fund currently manages $137.70 million in assets, with a net asset value of $11.708927 per share. Bitwise charges a management fee of 0.75%. The minimum investment sits at $100,000, and it’s restricted to qualified purchasers. Daily liquidity is available.

From Superstate to Bitwise

The fund was originally launched by Superstate in July 2024 as a tokenized fund, meaning its shares exist as on-chain tokens rather than purely traditional book entries. Bitwise Asset Management assumed management of the fund on June 1, 2026.

That tokenized structure operates across Ethereum, Plume, and Solana, which gives USCC composability with decentralized finance protocols, meaning fund shares could potentially be used as collateral on DeFi platforms.

AUM stood at roughly $259 million in early June 2026, before Bitwise took the reins. It has since declined to $137.70 million.

Why the basis is expanding

The 5.90% yield is a direct function of how wide the futures basis has gotten. When optimism runs high in crypto markets, futures tend to trade at steeper premiums to spot, creating wider spreads for basis traders to harvest.

When Bitcoin was ripping higher in late 2024 and early 2025, annualized basis rates on some exchanges briefly exceeded 20%. The current environment isn’t nearly that frothy, but a nearly 6% yield on a market-neutral strategy compares favorably to money market funds and short-duration treasuries.

The key risk, as with any basis trade, is basis compression. If futures premiums narrow or flip negative (backwardation), the yield shrinks or disappears entirely. Bitwise’s inclusion of staking yields through positions like weETH and JitoSOL provides some cushion against that scenario, but it also introduces smart contract risk that a pure futures basis trade wouldn’t carry.

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