The competition in the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) arena is intensifying, with major issuers, including Fidelity, revising their fees downward. Fidelity, as reported by Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst James Seyffart, has reduced its fees from 0.39% to 0.25% and is providing a fee waiver, bringing the cost to 0% until July 31.
Bitcoin ETF Issuers Reduce Fees
Since receiving feedback from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 8, a total of 5 out of the 11 issuers, including Fidelity, have adjusted their fee structures or implemented temporary waivers. With the previous lowest fee standing at 0.24%, Bitwise has further reduced it to 0.20%, accompanied by a waiver to 0% for a period of 6 months or until reaching 1 billion. Wisdomtree, previously at 0.50%, has lowered its fee to 0.30%, also with a waiver to 0% for 6 months or until reaching 1 billion.
Invesco and Galaxy have maintained their waiver while reducing the fee from 0.59% to 0.39%. Valkyrie, on the other hand, made a substantial adjustment by cutting the fee from 0.80% to 0.49%, with an additional waiver to 0% for a duration of 3 months.
SEC Account Compromised, Posting False Approval Notice
Amid heightened anticipation within the crypto community for the SEC’s final decision on spot Bitcoin ETFs, the Commission injected a moment of confusion by posting a false announcement of the approval for listing and trading Bitcoin ETFs on its official social media account.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler clarified, “The SEC twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.” The breach was confirmed by X (formerly known as Twitter) safety team after an initial investigation, which revealed that the compromise resulted from an unidentified individual gaining control over a phone number associated with the SEC account through a third party. Notably, the account did not have two-factor authentication enabled during the time of the compromise.
The incident has drawn criticism from users expressing frustration and disappointment with what they perceive as unprofessional conduct by the SEC. Although Bitcoin briefly touched the $48,000 mark following the false approval notice, it subsequently dipped below the $46,000 level after the clarification. As of now, Bitcoin is trading at $45,953, reflecting a 1.8% decrease over the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap.
