Asset management firms are gearing up for the launch of the spot Ethereum ETF market as the July 23 deadline approaches. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to approve the applications, and firms have already disclosed their management fees.
BlackRock has announced a 0.25% management fee for its spot Ethereum ETF, ETHA. This fee will be accrued daily and paid at least every three months. To attract investors, BlackRock plans to reduce this fee to 0.12% during the ETF’s initial launch period, which will last until the ETF has been in operation for 12 months or has accumulated $2.5 billion in net assets, whichever comes first. This strategy mirrors the one used for its IBIT Bitcoin ETF, which now has nearly $20 billion in assets under management after seven months.
Franklin Templeton is offering the lowest fee at 0.19% for its spot Ethereum ETF. Bitwise and VanEck have set their fees at 0.20%, while the 21Shares Core Ethereum ETF will charge 0.21%. Both Fidelity and Invesco Galaxy will match BlackRock’s fee of 0.25%. Several issuers, including Bitwise, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, 21Shares, and VanEck, plan to waive their fees initially under specific conditions. For instance, VanEck’s fee will be waived for the first 12 months or until the ETF reaches $1.5 billion in net assets.
Grayscale has introduced the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust, offering a competitive fee of 0.25%, similar to BlackRock’s ETF. They also plan to use 10% of the assets from their spot Ethereum ETF to establish the Ethereum Mini Trust, providing $1 billion in seed funding.
The launch of these ETFs is expected to boost the price of ETH and positively impact the broader cryptocurrency market. Historical data from K33 Research shows that new capital flowing into Bitcoin via ETFs increased the crypto market cap by 46% in 2024. Vettle Lunde, a senior analyst at K33, anticipates a similar trend with Ethereum, suggesting that the ETFs could strengthen Ether’s price in the second half of the year and attract sidelined capital into the crypto market.
Currently, ETH is trading at $3,460, showing a slight decrease of 0.6% over the past 24 hours. Despite this, Ethereum remains up by 8% over the past week, indicating a strong performance as the market awaits the launch of the new ETFs.
