Competing to reduce fees, Wall Street launches Ethereum ETF dominance battle
Ethereum ETF is expected to debut as early as next week, with several major US financial institutions vying for the first launch and competing for this market in advance. BlackRock, Fidelity, and others are planning to reduce the fees for Ethereum ETF, ranging from as low as 0.19% to 2.5%
Although the relevant funds have not been officially launched yet, the battle for Ethereum ETF market has quietly begun. Wall Street institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, and Bitwise are competing to reduce the fees for Ethereum ETFs.
On July 17th, several fund issuers including BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, and Bitwise submitted applications to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), detailing the fee structures they have set for the upcoming Ethereum ETFs.
These ETFs will directly hold the second largest cryptocurrency by market value, and the companies are currently awaiting final approval from regulatory agencies. Reports suggest that Ethereum ETFs may start trading on July 23rd.
BlackRock plans to charge a management fee of 0.25% for its unreleased Ethereum ETF, but will offer fee reductions for the first 12 months or for assets reaching $2.5 billion. Similarly, Fidelity plans to charge a 0.25% fee and waive this fee by the end of the year, with no cap on total assets. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency-focused 21Shares and Bitwise have proposed fee rates of 0.21% and 0.2% respectively, along with additional discount conditions.
Overall, the proposed fees range from the lowest 0.19% proposed by Franklin Templeton to 2.5% by Grayscale. Grayscale is considering converting its existing funds into Ethereum ETFs and may simultaneously launch a new version with a lower fee ratio.
Institutional analyst James Seyffart pointed out, "Out of the upcoming 10 ETFs, 7 offer fee reductions, some even completely waive fees, ranging from 6 to 10 months. This precisely shows how intense the competition these issuers anticipate - it will be a battle to gather assets."
Seyffart also added that many issuers vying for the Ethereum ETF market have experienced similar competition in Bitcoin ETFs launched earlier this year. Data shows that these ETFs have attracted a total of $16.5 billion in inflows since their high-profile listing in January. Among them, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) has performed particularly well, currently managing assets of around $21 billion.
According to media reports, U.S. regulatory agencies have informed at least three companies applying to launch exchange-traded funds linked to Ethereum prices that they may ultimately approve the new products for launch next Tuesday (July 23). Analysts expect Ethereum ETFs to attract up to $10 billion in new capital inflows.
Several major financial institutions are vying for approval and initial public offering of Ethereum ETFs, including BlackRock, Grayscale, and Fidelity. To meet regulatory requirements, issuers such as ARK Investments and Fidelity have recently removed the staking feature from their Ethereum ETF plans Year-to-date, Ethereum has accumulated a nearly 46% increase, currently trading at $3,434.81.
