With the expectation that the most recent drive to list a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. will be successful – with a possibility of an SEC approval coming as early as Wednesday, January 10 – another separate but related battle is taking shape.
The ten applicants – VanEck, Bitwise, Fidelity, Franklin, Valkyrie, Hashdex, ArkInvest, Grayscale, BlackRock, WisdomTree, and Invesco Galaxy – are seemingly engaging in a price war of sorts.
As of Tuesday, January 9, the four cheapest ETFs belonged to Bitwise – 0.20% – Valkyrie – 0.49% – Invesco Galaxy – 0.39% – and WisdomTree – 0.30% – but, with Thursday, the expected launch day, around the corner, the fees are themselves rapidly changing.
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Fidelity, for example, initially planned to charge 0.39% for its BTC exchange-traded fund but revised it to 0.25% since. Several companies also offer a waiver of either six months or up to $1 billion, during which they would charge no fees, according to an X post by Bloombeg’s James Seyffart.
Finally, on Wednesday, January 10, BlackRock lowered its fees on the Bitcoin ETF to 0.25% with an additional initial discount of 0.12% and ArkInvest to 0.21%
Ultimately, at press time and disregarding the waivers, the cheapest funds are shaping up to be Bitwise’s at 0.20%, Ark’s at 21%, and Blackrock’s and Fidelity’s at 0.25%.
Given the most recent trend, it is not unlikely that other hopeful issuers will further lower their fees or offer additional waivers in the coming hours.
ETFs and BTC price
Over the previous months, there has been a noticeable connection between news and rumors on possible cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds and the price of Bitcoin. Indeed, the crypto market rally that started in late October coincided with a false report that a spot ETF was approved.
Bitcoin, along with many other cryptocurrencies, has been gaining ground slowly on renewed investor optimism and bullish expectations for 2024. Since the start of the year, BTC has been subjected to increased volatility, largely driven by various ETF-related updates and reports.
The crypto market was briefly slaughtered on January 2 after Matrixport released a report claiming that the SEC is likely to reject all ETF applications, and Bitcoin violently whipsawed on January 9 after the watchdog’s X account was compromised and tweeted that all funds have been approved.
Bitcoin stands at $45,127 at the time of publication, having declined 3.26% in the last 24 hours of trading. Zooming out, the world’s foremost cryptocurrency is 6.10% in the green since New Year’s Day, and up as much as 158.55% in the last 52 weeks.
Some experts, including the prominent investor and author of the best-selling personal finance book “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” Robert Kiyosaki, forsee BTC climbing as high as $150,000 after the SEC approves the ETFs.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
