BCDF vs LEGR

BCDFDHorizon Kinetics Blockchain Development ETF

LEGRBFirst Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF

In short

BCDF Horizon Kinetics skips the index and picks its own blockchain names: roughly 30 companies, actively chosen, with at least 80% of assets pledged to the theme. A concentrated, opinionated take in a corner of the market built mostly on baskets.

LEGR Blockchain, hold the coins. LEGR has tracked the Indxx Blockchain Index since January 2018, owning roughly 110 global companies that build with the technology or stand to benefit from it, rather than the tokens themselves.

Stated mandate

BCDF The Fund seeks long-term growth of capital through active investment in Blockchain Development Companies. Under normal circumstances, it invests at least 80% of net assets plus investment borrowings in those companies.

LEGR The Fund seeks to track the performance of the Indxx Blockchain Index before fees and expenses. The index targets companies involved with blockchain technology or positioned to benefit from its use in business processes.

Why people hold it

• BCDF Actively run, not index-shadowing. A manager chooses the roughly 30 holdings and can shift as the blockchain buildout does, instead of inheriting whatever a rules-based screen spits out.
• The theme is a contract, not a label: the prospectus commits at least 80% of net assets plus borrowings to blockchain development companies.
• Roughly 30 names means each pick carries real weight in the portfolio, a sharp contrast to the sprawling thematic baskets that dilute their best ideas.
• Live since 2022, so it has a real operating record through crypto's ugliest stretch, not a backtest. Standard 1940 Act fund wrapper: 1099 tax reporting, no K-1.

• LEGR A first-wave name: launched January 2018, and it has tracked the same blockchain index through a full crypto boom and bust.
• Picks and shovels, not whitepapers: roughly 110 global stocks either working with blockchain or positioned to benefit from it inside their own business processes.
• Spreading the theme across about 110 operating companies keeps any single name from dominating, and the fund sits in the upper half of its global thematic peer group.

Worth knowing

• BCDF 0.85% a year sits above the typical blockchain-equity fund, and above index rivals like BKCH at 0.50% and BLOK at 0.70%. Active stock picking is what the premium buys.
• A small fund that trades lightly. Spreads can run wider than on the category's heavyweights, which matters most on large or hurried orders.
• Distributions land once or twice a year rather than quarterly or monthly, so any income arrives lumpy. This is a growth-of-capital mandate, not an income one.

• LEGR The 0.65% expense ratio sits above the typical fee among global thematic ETFs, and several funds in that group charge a fraction of it.
• It trades thinly, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on giant ETFs. Limit orders do real work here.
• Stocks, not coins. Crypto moves reach this fund only through share prices of companies where blockchain may be one line in a much larger business.

Full BCDF profile⁠

Full LEGR profile⁠