Nakamoto Inc. is running an actively managed options program with Bitwise and Kraken, writing covered calls and buying puts on part of its Bitcoin stack to turn volatility into income and partial downside hedges.
Summary
- Nasdaq-listed Nakamoto Inc. has detailed an actively managed Bitcoin derivatives program designed to turn BTCโs volatility into recurring income while hedging part of its downside risk.
- Bitwise Asset Management will manage a separately managed account using Nakamotoโs Bitcoin, custodied by Kraken Institutional, to run covered calls, call spreads, protective puts, and put spreads.
- Premiums generated can be used to pay for hedges, increase Bitcoin holdings, or fund corporate expenses, with results set to appear in Nakamotoโs Q1 2026 Form 10โQ.
Nakamoto Inc. (NASDAQ: NAKA) has announced the details of an actively managed Bitcoin derivatives program that it has been running since the first quarter of 2026, positioning the strategy as a complement to its core โlong Bitcoinโ treasury approach. The company said the program is โintended to generate recurring volatility income from a defined portion of the Companyโs Bitcoin holdings and hedge a portion of the Companyโs downside exposure to Bitcoin price risk.โ
Under the program, a slice of Nakamotoโs Bitcoin stack is held in Krakenโs qualified custody solution and pledged as collateral into a separately managed account overseen by Bitwise Asset Management. Within that SMA, Nakamoto and Bitwise jointly run a portfolio of listed and overโtheโcounter Bitcoinโlinked derivatives under a single mandate that caps notional exposure as a percentage of total BTC holdings and sets guardrails on instruments, counterparties, and tenor.
The structure is split into two sleeves. On the income side, Nakamoto โwrites covered calls and call spreads against a defined portion of its Bitcoin holdings to convert the implied volatility embedded in Bitcoin options markets into recurring premium income,โ with position sizing, strike selection, and expiries dictated by the firmโs risk framework. On the hedging side, it buys protective puts and put spreads โagainst a defined portion of its Bitcoin holdings to reduce the Companyโs markโtoโmarket exposure to adverse Bitcoin price movements over defined time horizons,โ with premium outlays โpartially fundedโ by the call income where appropriate.
In a post on X, Nakamoto framed the trade very simply: โBitcoinโs implied volatility is one of the most persistently mispriced assets in global markets,โ adding that the program is designed to โgenerate volatility income and hedge downside riskโ on part of its treasury. The company noted that premiums may be received in either Bitcoin or U.S. dollars and can be โreinvested in the Companyโs Bitcoin treasury, applied against operating costs (including interest expense), or retained as working capital.โ Performance figures for Q1 2026 will be disclosed in its next 10โQ.
For crypto markets, the move matters on several fronts. First, it shows a listed โBitcoin operating companyโ adopting the kind of systematic coveredโcall plus putโhedge structure long used by commodity producers and gold ETFs, but now applied directly to a corporate BTC stack via regulated managers and qualified custody. Second, it reinforces Bitwiseโs role as an institutional bridge between traditional derivatives infrastructure and onโchain exposure, at a time when more corporates are experimenting with Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Finally, it adds another live example of how treasuries can treat Bitcoin not just as a passive store of value, but as yieldโbearing collateral โ with upside capped on the covered portion, but cash flow and downside protection gained in return.
