Grayscale Bitcoin ETF Fee is 1.5%, Highest Among Bitcoin ETF Issuers

Key Points:

• Grayscale aims for a 1.5% fee in the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF, with JANE STREET and MACQUARIE among key players.
• Despite Grayscale’s fee drop from 2%, competitors like Fidelity, BlackRock, Bitwise, and others offer even lower expense ratios.
• SEC’s imminent vote could pave the way for swift ETF trading, intensifying the competition among financial giants for a foothold in the Bitcoin ETF market.

Grayscale has submitted a revised S-3 document detailing the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF with a set fee of 1.5%.

Grayscale Bitcoin ETF Fee Set at 1.5%, Key Players Revealed

Designating JANE STREET, VIRTU, FLOW TRADERS, and FLOWDESK as liquidity providers and JANE STREET, VIRTU, MACQUARIE, and ABN AMRO as authorized participants, the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF awaits approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Compared to Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s (GBTC) current 2% fee, the proposed 1.5% fee remains higher than its competitors. Despite GBTC’s advantage of $27 billion in assets since 2013, Bloomberg reports that rival ETFs offer significantly lower expense ratios.

Fidelity, a financial services giant, proposed the most economical fee at 0.39% of the ETF’s net asset value. In contrast, Grayscale, Ark/21Shares, BlackRock, VanEck, WisdomTree, Invesco, Fidelity, Valkyrie, and Franklin have presented lower fee structures in recent filings.

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, plans to charge 0.20% for the first $5 billion of the iShares Bitcoin Trust’s assets, followed by 30 basis points. Bitwise offers a 24 basis point fee with an initial waiver on the first $1 billion of trust assets, while Ark Invest and 21Shares propose a 25 basis point fee with a similar waiver.

VanEck and Franklin Templeton beat Fidelity’s fee, standing at 25 and 29 basis points, respectively, according to Monday filings, without intending to waive any fees. The SEC is expected to vote on the exchanges’ filings (19b-4s) in the coming days, potentially leading to ETF trading as soon as the next business day if both sets of required approvals are granted.