For educational purposes only. Nothing on this site constitutes investment advice. Disclaimers
SPBC — Simplify US Equity PLUS Bitcoin Strategy ETF
SPBC holds 100% S&P 500 equity exposure alongside a targeted ~10% spot bitcoin allocation via exchange-traded products, offering a measured way to add bitcoin to a core equity position.
SPBC price history
Total return (Yahoo adjusted close—dividends and splits per Yahoo), normalized to $10,000 at first available trade date. Educational only.
Strategy
Unlike full one-plus-one stacked designs that place a complete second sleeve on every invested dollar, SPBC is deliberately measured: IVV (iShares Core S&P 500) anchors the equity book while S&P 500 E-mini futures supplement to hold 100% notional, and spot bitcoin ETPs (currently VanEck HODL) target 10% of NAV with quarterly rebalancing and a hard 25% cap. Gross notional runs roughly 110%, not 200%.
Simplify avoids bitcoin futures entirely, using only spot ETPs. That choice sidesteps roll costs and contango friction common in futures-based wrappers but means the bitcoin exposure is fully price-linked. Investors should size the 10% sleeve as a convexity addition, not a hedge: in a sharp crypto selloff it clips 3-5 percentage points of NAV regardless of equity direction.
Holdings
Base sleeve
| Asset | Weight |
|---|---|
| S&P 500 equity | 100% |
Stacked sleeve
| Asset | Weight |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin | 10% |
Manager and Issuer Pedigree
Simplify Asset Management was co-founded in 2020 by Paul Kim (CEO) and David Berns, PhD (CIO), with Michael Green (Managing Director and Chief Strategist) also serving as a portfolio manager for SPBC. The firm built its reputation on options-enhanced and convexity-aware ETF structures before expanding into stacked and bitcoin-overlay products; it manages approximately $6.1B in ETF assets across its complex.
Berns holds a PhD in physics from MIT with a background in quantum computation; Green is widely followed for macro and market-structure research. The team's orientation is toward engineering exposures precisely rather than replicating index conventions: SPBC's quarterly rebalance cadence and explicit bitcoin cap reflect that design-first philosophy.
Simplify has drawn criticism for fee layering: several of its ETFs hold other Simplify funds internally, adding acquired-fund fees on top of the headline expense ratio, and its 2025 SBIL launch (repackaging an internal cash-management function as a standalone fund) was called a "money grab" by ETF industry analysts. CTAP, once a straightforward S&P 500 plus managed-futures stack, was quietly restructured to hold ~73% of its equity sleeve in Simplify's own SPUC covered-call fund, capping upside and adding a second layer of fees. Verify current holdings against the fund's official page before investing rather than relying on the launch-date strategy description.
Outperformance
Outperforms when U.S. large-cap equities trend higher and bitcoin captures an independent digital-scarcity bid: the 10% sleeve adds meaningful convexity to the upside without proportionally increasing drawdown drag because the notional is modest.
Underperforms when bitcoin sells off hard while equities are flat or moderately positive; the 10% sleeve is large enough to impose real NAV drag (3-5 percentage points in a severe crypto drawdown) with no offsetting diversification if the equity sleeve is only generating muted returns on the weaker leg.
Similar ETFs
Official ETF page
Read the official ETF page for current NAV, holdings, and documents: Simplify Asset Management (SPBC).