Grayscale plans industry-low 0.15% fee for Bitcoin Mini Trust spinoff fund, under ticker BTC

Quick Take

  • Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust, a new fund automatically formed from 10% of the Bitcoin held by GBTC, will charge a more competitive rate than its parent. 

Grayscale's latest financial filing has revealed new details about its new fund, the Bitcoin Mini Trust, which the company says will be listed on NYSE Arca under the ticker BTC and charge a competitive fee rate of .15%. 

First announced in March, the spinoff trust provides a way for Grayscale to contribute some of the coins in Bitcoin's oldest exchange-traded product to a smaller trust that charges less in fees without incurring a taxable event on existing holders. Shares will be distributed automatically to holders as of the record date, which has yet to be revealed. 

According to its latest pro forma financial statement, Grayscale plans to contribute 63,620 Bitcoin towards the fund's initial distribution, or 10% of the Bitcoin held by GBTC at the start of the year, which has a value near $4 billion at current prices. Both trusts will then trade independently and share no exposure, according to the preliminary filing. 

The Mini Trust's fee of .15% would make it the lowest outright fee in the industry, slightly lower than Franklin Templeton's EZBC, though fee waivers and other perks complicate that calculation. GBTC currently has a fee of 1.5%, the highest among the spot Bitcoin ETFs on the market. 

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If the trust were to be created today, its assets of $4 billion would make it the fourth largest spot Bitcoin ETF by AUM, behind Fidelity's FBTC and BlackRock's IBIT, which would become the new leader given GBTC's disbursement. 


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About Author

Zack Abrams is a writer and editor based in Brooklyn, New York. Before coming to The Block, he was the Head Writer at Coinage, a Web3 media outlet covering the biggest stories in Web3. The story he co-reported on Do Kwon won a 2022 Best in Business Journalism award from SABEW. Other projects included a deep dive into SBF's defense based on exclusive documents and unveiling the identity of the hacker behind one of 2023's biggest crypto hacks — so far. He can be reached via X @zackdabrams or email, [email protected].