Elliot Johnson

Elliot Johnson is a Canadian finance executive whose work sits at the intersection of exchange-traded products and digital assets. He is the Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Evolve ETFs, and he serves as Chief Executive Officer of Bitcoin Treasury Corporation, a public company focused on Bitcoin-based financial services and treasury strategy.

Overview

Johnson’s roles span both investment decision-making and firm operations. As CIO at an ETF issuer, responsibilities typically include portfolio construction, risk oversight, and the ongoing management of investment mandates. As COO, the remit commonly extends to operational controls, product delivery, vendor management, and coordination across compliance, trading, and distribution. His leadership at Bitcoin Treasury Corporation reflects a growing category of firms seeking to build products and balance sheet strategies around Bitcoin.

Leadership Roles

At Evolve ETFs, Johnson holds both the CIO and COO titles, combining oversight of investment activities with responsibility for operational execution. In this structure, the CIO function focuses on how portfolios are built and maintained, while the COO function focuses on how products are run day to day, including operational resiliency and governance processes that support regulated fund operations.

At Bitcoin Treasury Corporation, Johnson is CEO. The company has described its initial focus as offering Bitcoin-denominated loans and building shareholder value through the strategic accumulation and active deployment of Bitcoin, with an emphasis on growing Bitcoin per share.

Bitcoin Treasury Corporation

Bitcoin Treasury Corporation positions itself as a Bitcoin-native business offering institutional-grade services, starting with lending products denominated in Bitcoin. The operating model combines treasury management with a services platform, which can include underwriting practices, collateral management, and risk policies tailored to a volatile underlying asset.

• Focus on Bitcoin-denominated lending as an initial service line.
• Stated strategy of accumulating and actively deploying Bitcoin to support a Bitcoin-per-share objective.
• Operates in a regulatory environment that can include money services registration requirements, disclosures associated with public markets, and risk controls related to custody and counterparties.

How His Roles Fit the Crypto Market

Executives combining portfolio oversight with operations are often central to how crypto-adjacent financial products reach the market. For ETF issuers, digital asset exposure can raise additional considerations around pricing inputs, liquidity, custody arrangements, and how risk is communicated to investors. For Bitcoin-focused corporate strategies, leadership decisions often involve balancing treasury objectives with liquidity planning, capital markets access, and operational safeguards for holding and deploying digital assets.

Risks and Considerations

The areas Johnson operates in carry well-known risks that can affect both product performance and business operations:

• Market volatility: Bitcoin price swings can materially impact portfolio outcomes and treasury metrics.
• Regulatory change: Rules affecting ETFs, custodians, lending, or money services businesses can alter product design and operating requirements.
• Custody and security: Holding and moving digital assets introduces operational security risk, including key management and third-party service dependencies.
• Counterparty and collateral risk: Bitcoin-denominated lending can expose firms to borrower default risk, collateral valuation risk, and liquidation execution risk.
• Liquidity and funding: Access to reliable liquidity matters for both fund operations and lending businesses, particularly during stressed market conditions.

• Evolve ETFs Chief Investment Officer & Chief Operating Officer