Grayscale Will Lower Fees On Its Spot Bitcoin ETF, CEO Confirms

Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnhenshein has promised to lower the management fee of the company’s spot Bitcoin ETF, whose above-average cost has led to overwhelming outflows in recent months.

• In an interview with CNBC on Monday, the executive promised that the fee will drop over time as the crypto ETF market matures.
• “I’ll happily confirm that, over time, as this market matures, the fees on GBTC will come down,” he said.
• Upon converting into an ETF on January 11, the fund dropped its management fee from 2% to 1.5%, in line with previous promises to investors.
• However, numerous identical spot Bitcoin ETF products launched on the same day, including from BlackRock and Fidelity, included fees of less than 0.5%.
• At the time, Sonnhenshein justified Grayscale’s uniquely high fee due to its existing liquidity and track record compared to its newborn competitors.
• On Monday, however, the CEO claimed that reducing its fee over time was par for the course for fund providers, which generally start with higher fees when their products are “earlier in their lifecycle.”

• “As those markets mature, and as those funds grow, those fees tend to come down, and we expect the same to be true of GBTC,” he said.

• Since starting as an ETF, Grayscale hasn’t experienced a single trading day of net inflows. On the contrary, investors have sold over $12.4 billion out of the fund as long-term GBTC holders cash out on their gains, and new market entrants deploy their capital toward cheaper funds.
• For example, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has absorbed $12.9 billion of inflows over the same time period.

• “We’re kind of at the end of that first inning now, where the pent-up demand for buying has hopefully been satisfied, the pent up demand for selling has also hopefully been satisfied,” Sonnenshein added.

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