Viridi Funds Launches ETF Focused on Cleaner Energy Crypto Miners

Registered investment advisor Viridi Funds has launched an exchange-traded fund that invests in crypto mining firms that are making the switch to cleaner sources of energy.

The fund is called the Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining & Semiconductor ETF and will trade on the New York Stock Exchange’s Arca platform; Viridi will serve as a sub-adviser to the fund while Alpha Architect is creating the fund’s infrastructure. The management fee on the ETF will be 0.9%, higher than most ETFs but lower than most closed crypto funds. 

Eighty percent of the fund will invest in publicly traded miners that have switched to nuclear or renewable sources of energy or are trying to offset their carbon emissions with carbon credits, while 20% is going towards semiconductors that also take advantage of clean energy. 

The fund will include semiconductor companies because of how few publicly traded mining companies there are, Wes Fulford, CEO of Viridi Funds, told CoinDesk. 

“There aren’t 50 large-cap reputable publicly listed global miners here too to have like a diverse universe of potential holdings,” he said.

Fulford noted the ETF would invest in companies that use carbon credits to offset emissions, as well as a combination of carbon credits and renewable energy, but that using credits wouldn’t likely be a sustainable business model for crypto miners.

Some firms are using the credits in the “interim,” Fulford said, but “if they’re smart, they’ll continue to migrate to renewable power.”