19 Bitcoin ETFs and Their Fees, Promotions and Holdings

On Wednesday, Jan. 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first-ever spot Bitcoin ETFs, including those from Fidelity, BlackRock and Invesco^[0]

A spot Bitcoin ETF is an exchange-traded fund — a highly liquid fund that changes price throughout the trading day, just like a stock — that directly tracks the price of Bitcoin, primarily by holding a large amount of the cryptocurrency itself. It’s similar to a spot gold ETF, which holds physical gold bullion on behalf of its shareholders.

As the first spot Bitcoin ETFs, the recently approved ETFs are the first cryptocurrency funds to trade on a major exchange and hold Bitcoin directly.

Below is a list of the approved ETFs and their fees, in order from lowest to highest fee:

Sources: Fund websites. Data is current as of May 31, 2024 and intended for informational purposes, not for trading purposes.

It’s worth noting that although spot Bitcoin ETFs are designed to track the price of Bitcoin directly by holding it, there is no guarantee that they will deliver exactly the same returns as the cryptocurrency itself.

But wait — weren’t there already Bitcoin ETFs on the market?

Yes and no. There were already crypto-related ETFs and trusts out there, but there has never been a spot Bitcoin ETF on the market before the Jan. 2024 approval.

Bitcoin strategy ETFs attempt to track the price of Bitcoin indirectly. Many started trading well before the first spot Bitcoin ETF approvals, and they’re still available today.

Some invest in Bitcoin futures, while others invest in Bitcoin mining stocks. Due to the indirect nature of these investments, these funds’ returns are especially prone to deviating from the returns of Bitcoin.

Below is a list of Bitcoin strategy ETFs and their fees, in order from lowest to highest fee:

Sources: Fund websites. Data is current as of May 31, 2024 and is intended for informational purposes, not for trading purposes. These funds all have more than 50% of their non-cash-equivalent holdings invested in Bitcoin futures or Bitcoin mining stocks.

Ten different would-be spot Bitcoin ETF issuers filed forms with the SEC in January, disclosing the fees they intend to charge. Some were launching new funds, while others were changing existing Bitcoin strategy ETFs into spot Bitcoin ETFs.

The flood of SEC filings — which continued until hours before the SEC’s approval announcement, and may continue still — reflected an ongoing price war between issuers. Many Bitcoin ETFs — both spot Bitcoin ETFs and Bitcoin strategy ETFs — are slashing their fees and offering limited-time promotional fee waivers.

Most spot Bitcoin ETFs rely on a third-party custodian to actually store the Bitcoin they hold — much like how spot gold ETFs often keep their physical gold holdings in the vault of a third-party custodian.

Eight out of the 10 currently-trading spot Bitcoin ETFs use Coinbase (COIN) as their Bitcoin custodian. The only exceptions are the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which uses Fidelity itself as a custodian, and the VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL), which uses Gemini.

Coinbase’s dominance in Bitcoin ETF custodianship has created concerns about custodianship risk. If Coinbase ran into severe financial trouble in the future — for example, due to a cyberattack, a government penalty, or a decline in its revenue — would the holdings of Bitcoin ETFs be safe?

There are mechanisms by which ETFs — and investors themselves — could recover their holdings in the event of a Coinbase bankruptcy, but they wouldn’t necessarily be instant or automatic. So custodianship risk may be something to consider while shopping for a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Peter Eberle, the chief investment officer of California-based crypto investment firm Castle Funds, said in an email interview that the approval would have a positive impact on the price of bitcoin.

“Many investors can’t currently get exposure. For example, many people with 401(k)s, IRAs and similar accounts can’t easily access Bitcoin. These investors will be able to allocate funds going forward. This will drive demand in coming years,” Eberle said.

However, Eberle also cautioned that bullish sentiment could be overblown, because the ETF approvals do not necessarily guarantee billions of dollars of inflows on the first day of trading.

“Expectations might be too bullish for a short-term impact,” he said.

“Crypto tokens are highly correlated. If BTC does make a big price move, then other tokens will also participate to some degree. It will also make it likely that we will see an ETH ETF, which could provide significant tailwinds for ETH,” Eberle said, referring to Bitcoin by its ticker symbol “BTC” and Ethereum by its ticker symbol “ETH.”

Eberle said he thinks that ETF approvals will likely be limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum for the time being.

“BTC and ETH ETFs seem the most likely candidates, since BTC and ETH already trade as commodities on the CME,” he said, referring to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a futures exchange. “The other tokens have greater hurdles to overcome, as the SEC still considers many to be unregistered securities.”

» Interested in more ETFs? Check out the best ETFs in terms of one-year performance.