VanEck Sets High Bar For Spot Ethereum ETF Launch, To Initially Waive Fee

Investment management firm VanEck has submitted a new filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that stated it will initially waive the fee for its proposed spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) before eventually transitioning to charging a 0.20% fee.

VanEck, in the Tuesday filing, set two conditions for its initial waiving of the fund's "entire" fee: for an unspecified period from 2024 through 2025 or "for the first 1.5 billion on the Trust's asset." When one of the said conditions is fulfilled, the company will then charge a 0.20% fee.

It also indicated that it may waive fees "at its sole discretion and from time to time, waive all or a portion of the Sponsor Fee for stated periods of time" – a significant announcement that could set the bar in terms of enticing initial offerings among spot ETH ETF issuers.

Matthew Sigel, VanEck's head of digital assets research, posted on X (formerly Twitter) a portion of his email to ETF.com wherein he said the investment manager "aims to be a leader on crypto ETF fees even if it means we lose money at the outset."

Aside from its big news regarding fees, VanEck may have also hinted at the possible launch of the much-anticipated spot Ether ETFs, which could be a week from now, according to senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

"VanEck just filed 8-A form for spot Eth, which is just a part of process, but.. should be noted that they filed their 8-A for spot bitcoin exactly 7 days before launch," he pointed out. Balchunas has set his target date for the potential launch of Ethereum ETFs sometime around July 2.

Interestingly, VanEck CEO, Jan van Eck, posted an image that showed a wall featuring framed photographs of officials under the Biden administration, including a photo of SEC Chair Gary Gensler. "Guess where I'm starting my week?" he wrote on X. "At an office space soon to be irrelevant," crypto researcher Mati Greenspan suggested. Prominent crypto podcaster Tony Edward said the VanEck CEO was "visiting SEC."

The regulator has partially approved Ethereum ETFs, but it has yet to approve S-1 filings before the funds start trading. Last week, it was reported that applicants were already working on "reasonable" comments provided by the SEC.

Gensler told Bloomberg at an event Tuesday that the approval process for the funds was "going smoothly," although he dodged the question when asked if the ETFs will be approved within the next few weeks. He reiterated that the approval relies on how issuers will fulfill the regulatory agency's requirements.