BlackRock, a leading asset management firm, has announced a 0.25% fee for its upcoming spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF), expected to launch next week.
The details are outlined in BlackRock's S-1 registration statement, submitted on July 17. The document specifies that the fee will accrue daily at an annualized rate of 0.25% of the fund's net asset value, payable at least quarterly in US dollars, in-kind, or both.
BlackRock may waive this fee entirely or partially during certain periods and plans to do so at launch. Initially, its spot Ether ETF will trade at a reduced 0.12% fee for the first year or until it reaches $2.5 billion in net assets, whichever comes first.
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The announcement comes amid a rush of amended S-1 registration forms from various firms, each proposing different fees and waiver periods for their spot Ether ETFs. Franklin Templeton has proposed the lowest fee at 0.19%, while Bitwise and VanEck have set their fees at 0.20%. The 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF will charge 0.21%, and both Fidelity and Invesco Galaxy plan to match BlackRock's fee of 0.25%.
Several firms plan to eliminate fees entirely at the launch:
- Franklin Templeton will waive fees on the first $10 billion of the fund's assets for the first six months after listing;
- Bitwise will impose no fees on the first $500 million assets for the first six months;
- VanEck will waive fees on the first $1.5 billion in net assets for the first year;
- 21Shares will waive fees on the first $500 million in assets for the first six months;
- Fidelity will have no fees through December 31, 2024.
Meanwhile, Grayscale will maintain a 2.5% fee for its spot Ether ETF but will offer a more competitive 0.25% fee for its newly approved Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust. This Mini Trust will receive 10% of Grayscale's Ethereum ETFs.
Insider information suggests that BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and VanEck have already secured preliminary approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas predicts that the S-1 filings will be approved on July 22, allowing the spot Ether ETFs to start trading the following day.
If approved, these spot Ether ETFs will be listed on Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange.
The anticipated launch of these ETFs marks a significant milestone in the cryptocurrency investment market.
In other news, VanEck has also filed for the first Solana ETF in the US.
