The fee war among spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) hopeful issuers continued as BlackRock, ARK, 21Shares, WisdomTree and Valkyrie all modified their fee structures in an attempt to gain a competitive edge in advance of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruling on the applications.
The SEC is required to make a decision on ARK Invest and 21Shares' spot Bitcoin ETF proposal on Wednesday. However, the day before, several issuers submitted their modified fee structures after Monday filings showed highly competitive Bitcoin ETF fees.
The New York-based asset management titan BlackRock dropped its ongoing fee to just 0.20%, offering a promotional 0.12% for the first $5 billion in assets or for 12 months.
"The Sponsor's Fee is accrued daily at an annualized rate equal to 0.25% of the net asset value of the Trust and is payable at least quarterly in arrears in U.S. dollars or in-kind or any combination thereof," BlackRock's latest S-1 read.
"...For a twelve-month period commencing on the day the Shares are initially listed on NASDAQ, the Sponsor will waive a portion of the Sponsor's Fee so that the Sponsor's Fee after the fee waiver will be equal to 0.12% of the net asset value of the Trust for the first $5.0 billion of the Trust's assets," the filing added.
Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented on the recent round of modified Bitcoin fee structures and noted: "LOWER: BlackRock has just cut the fee on its spot Bitcoin ETF to 0.25% (and 0.12% for the first $5b). They really going for the jugular here, looking to crush the others bf they even born, just brutal. ARK has also cut to 0.21%. Bitwise curr low at 0.20%. Terrordome life."
LOWER: BlackRock has just cut the fee on its spot Bitcoin ETF to 0.25% (and 0.12% for the first $5b). They really going for the jugular here, looking to crush the others bf they even born, just brutal. ARK has also cut to 0.21%. Bitwise curr low at 0.20%. Terrordome life. pic.twitter.com/PtSrvAinbW
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 10, 2024
ARK and 21Shares also changed their fee structure and reduced the fee by 4 basis points to 0.21% from the previous 0.25% charge.
They are also waiving the fee for the first six months or the first $1 billion in assets, whichever comes first.
Apart from those, WisdomTree and Valkyrie temporarily waived fees for their spot Bitcoin ETFs.
WisdomTree waives its fee for the first six months or the first $1 billion in assets, whichever comes first, and cuts the fees from 0.30% during the waiver period.
They are also waving the fee for the first six or the first $1 billion in assets, whichever comes first.
Valkyrie also changed its fee structure, waiving its fee for three months and dropping it to zero from 0.49% during the waiver period.
Despite the modified fee structures of other hopeful spot Bitcoin ETF issuers, Bitwise's fee remains the lowest.
On Tuesday, Bitwise reduced its fee to 0.20% from the previous 0.24%.
