The company stated in a filing that FMR acquired 125,000 shares at a price of $38 per share and used the proceeds to purchase 1,250 Ether. Although it disclosed the seed capital for the Ether spot ETF, Fidelity did not include fees. Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, believes that issuers might be waiting to see what others offer before finalizing their own fee structures. He mentioned in a post on X that Fidelity’s filing marks the beginning of the S-1 submissions, and noted that no fees have been included yet, apart from Franklin’s 19bps.
Bitwise also did not include any fees. In January, ahead of the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs, issuers tried to attract attention by announcing very low fees. Grayscale, which set its fee at 1.5%, has experienced significant outflows from its GBTC spot Bitcoin ETF. In proof-of-stake mechanisms, ETH holders can lock up their assets to participate in transaction validation and earn staking rewards.
The SEC approved spot Ethereum ETFs in May, giving a nod to applications by several firms including Fidelity, BlackRock, VanEck, Grayscale, Invesco Galaxy, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, and Bitwise. However, the approval of the form 19b-4s was only the first step, and a nod to S-1s will have to happen before the ETFs can start trading on exchanges.
