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The bitcoin exchange-traded funds launching Thursday after the SEC’s long-awaited approval come at a wide variety of price points, with signs that a fee war is already underway.
The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) has the lowest expense ratio of all the new bitcoin funds, at 0.20%. Several other funds are close behind, including the Ark21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) at 0.21% and the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) at 0.25%.
The Bitwise fund also has a temporary waiver that will eliminate the fee entirely for six months on the first $1 billion of assets. Other proposed funds have similar waivers, meaning early adopters of the bitcoin ETFs will have little or zero management cost for a brief time.
Bitcoin ETF fee comparison
Fund | Ticker | Fee |
---|---|---|
Bitwise Bitcoin ETF | BITB | 0.20%* |
Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF | ARKB | 0.21%* |
Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund | FBTC | 0.25%* |
iShares Bitcoin Trust | IBIT | 0.25%* |
VanEck Bitcoin Trust | HODL | 0.25% |
Franklin Bitcoin ETF | EZBC | 0.29% |
WisdomTree Bitcoin Fund | BTCW | 0.30%* |
Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF | BTCO | 0.39%* |
Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund | BRRR | 0.49%* |
Hashdex Bitcoin ETF | DEFI | 0.94% |
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust | GBTC | 1.5% |
Source: SEC filings; * indicates temporary waiver for part or all of the management fee
The fees for bitcoin funds are higher than many broad stock index funds, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) charging less than 0.10%. But the pricing is in-line with or even below the biggest commodity funds, as SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and the United States Oil Fund (USO) charge 0.40% and 0.60%, respectively.
Fund managers make money by charging fees on the assets under management. ETF fees have been trending lower over time, and some asset managers have shown a willingness to run a new fund at a loss in order to attract more assets and maximize revenue long-term. The fees are taken out of a fund’s asset pool, and investors are not billed individually.
The low prices before the launch show that the battle to lower fees is already in effect for crypto funds. For example,…
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