Hashdex is closing its spot Bitcoin ETF, DEFI, making it the first US-listed fund of its kind to shut down. The fund will be delisted from NYSE Arca on August 17, with cash payouts to holders expected around August 28. The reason is simple: the fund was too small to sustain itself.
Why the fund couldn't survive
DEFI pulled in just $6,453 in fees during its last full quarter. Total fees for all of 2025 were $47,521. That's not enough to cover the costs of running an ETF, even with a 0.25% expense ratio — the same fee BlackRock charges on its Bitcoin ETF. But BlackRock's fund held $47.5 billion as of August 4, about 3,260 times DEFI's $14.56 million. Size matters in the ETF business, and DEFI was simply too small to keep the lights on.
What holders need to know
The fund holds 225.58 Bitcoin. Hashdex will sell those coins and distribute the cash to shareholders, minus closing costs. The firm warned that the sale could cause price swings. Shares trade normally until August 17; after that, the fund is done. As of August 4, DEFI had about 200,000 shares outstanding, but trading volume was almost nonexistent — just 131 shares changed hands that day, worth $9,560.
Not a Hashdex retreat
This is a single fund closure, not a broader exit. Hashdex still manages over $200 million in US products overall. The firm isn't leaving the market; it's cutting a product that never gained traction. DEFI tracked Bitcoin's price within 0.02% of the benchmark, so performance wasn't the issue. The problem was simply that nobody was buying.
Shares trade for a few more weeks. Then the Bitcoin gets sold, the cash gets sent out, and DEFI becomes a footnote — the first US spot Bitcoin ETF to call it quits.
