Analysts deem Grayscale’s Mini Bitcoin ETF fees as ‘hypothetically’ inexpensive.

Grayscale Investments has announced that their upcoming “mini” version of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) will have fees that are almost one-tenth cheaper than the current GBTC fees. This makes it the most cost-effective option among the approved spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas advises investors not to get too excited just yet. In a post on X, he explains that these fees are hypothetical and subject to change before the launch. Nonetheless, the fees were deliberately set at 15 basis points to attract investors’ attention. Grayscale has proposed a fee of 0.15% for its new Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC), which is significantly lower than the current 1.5% fee for GBTC. This positions their ETF to have the lowest fees among the 11 approved spot Bitcoin ETFs introduced in January. Franklin Templeton, a trillion-dollar asset manager, follows closely behind with a fee of 0.19%. The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL) have fees of 0.20%. Thomas Fahrer, CEO of crypto-focused reviews portal Apollo, explains that Grayscale’s decision to offer lower fees is a response to the substantial outflows from GBTC. Since its launch, Grayscale has lost 315,000 BTC in outflows, and they needed to address this issue. Many investors have withdrawn funds from GBTC in favor of the more competitive fee offered by spot Bitcoin ETFs. Since January 11, when spot Bitcoin ETFs were introduced, GBTC has seen approximately $16.73 billion in outflows. As reported, the shares of the new Bitcoin trust will be distributed to existing GBTC shareholders, and GBTC will also contribute an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin to the new trust.