Several spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF applicants submitted S-1 amendments detailing sponsor fees and waiver details to the SEC on July 17 as they prepare for a potential trading launch next week.
Almost all of the issuers have detailed fees and sponsor fee waiver terms in the latest filings.
BlackRock set a 0.25% sponsor fee and said it would only charge a 0.12% fee for the first 12 months or up to the initial $2.5 billion. Meanwhile, Fidelity set the same 0.25% fee and said it would waive the entire sponsor’s fee until Dec. 31 without any other conditions.
21Shares and Bitwise added a 0.21% and 0.2% fee, respectively, which they will waive entirely for the first six months or up to the first $500 million.
Grayscale added a 2.5% fee for its main spot Ethereum ETF, converted from Grayscale Ethereum Trust. It added a 0.25% fee and a 12-month waiver to its mini ETH trust, which is valid for up to $2.0 billion.
Franklin Templeton reasserted its 0.19% fee and decision to waive the fee for the first $10 billion in assets. The firm added that the waiver period will last until Jan. 31, 2025.
VanEck similarly reasserted its 0.20% fee and said its fee waiver period would last 12 months from launch or up to the first $1.5 billion. Invesco Galaxy also reasserted its 0.25% fee and a starting fee of 0.25%.
ProShares has not submitted fee or waiver data.
Launch pending
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas commented on the fees by questioning whether each fund can generate significant inflows against funds unlocked from Grayscale’s converted ETF.
Balchuans said:
“Do these newborns have enough strength to offset those outflows a la BTC. Anyway short story is [Grayscale’s] 2.5% fee made path to a decent net flow number a little harder. We’ll see.”
The latest additions represent one of the final steps toward approval.
The SEC approved proposed rule changes for spot ETH ETFs on May 23. The changes permit exchanges to list and trade the funds but do not give asset managers the final green light needed to issue them.
According to industry insiders, the funds are expected to secure the final approvals next week and will begin trading on July 23.
