BlackRock, Other Potential Bitcoin ETF Providers Reveal Fees

BlackRock, Fidelity and other applicants to list a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. revealed their fees as the crypto industry awaits approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

BlackRock said in its final S-1 filing that its fee will start at 20 basis points for the first 12 months until the fund reaches $5 billion and then settles at 30 bps. The figure is lower than that predicted by Bloomberg Intelligence’s ETF analyst James Seyffart, who said last week he expected BlackRock and Fidelity to charge 0.39%. Fidelity announced fees in line with Seyffart’s prediction.

Read more: Bitcoin ETF Fees Will Play Critical Role in the Race to Popularity

With as many as 13 ETFs possibly set to list in the U.S. in the coming days, providers are seeking ways of differentiating themselves from their rivals and setting enticing fees is one of their main tools in doing so.

As previously reported, Invesco and Galaxy are waiving their fee entirely for the first six months until its fund reaches $5 billion in assets. Thereafter, a fee of 0.59% will apply.

For full coverage of bitcoin ETFs, click here.

Cathie Wood’s investment firm ARK and its custodian 21Shares set a similar structure, waiving the fee for the first six months or the first $1 billion, whichever comes sooner. Thereafter, the fee will be 0.25%.

VanEck also set a fee at 0.25% for its ETF, and Valkyrie set one of 0.8%.

Bitcoin ticked toward $45,000 on the news, up around 1.8% in the last 24 hours. At press time, BTC was trading at $44,865.

UPDATE (Jan. 08, 12:25 UTC): Adds additional detail and context on the providers' fees and updates BTC price.

UPDATE (Jan. 08, 15:30 UTC): Adds additional info about Ark/21Shares' fee.

UPDATE (Jan. 08, 15:45 UTC): Adds links to S-1 filings throughout.