How low can bitcoin ETF fees drop before it hurts a business?

Franklin Templeton’s product currently has the lowest fee at 19 basis points

It’s been a little over a day since 11 spot bitcoin ETFs began trading in the U.S., following the SEC’s approval. While there was more initial volume than some expected, some of the approved issuers are taking extra steps to ensure that their product stands out from the pack.

On Thursday, Franklin Templeton’s Franklin Bitcoin ETF ranked sixth among the 11 for first day trading volume at $65.45 million by the end of the day.

But the company wants more. By Friday, the firm lowered its fee from 29 basis points to 19 basis points, making it the lowest post-waiver fee across all the spot bitcoin ETFs, 0.01% lower than Bitwise’s 0.2% fee. (Note: A number of issuers, Franklin included, are waiving fees for a limited time.) The highest fee stands at 1.5% for Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust.

There’s reason to believe that spot bitcoin ETFs and other related products that may come to market will see strong demand over time, and major investment houses want a piece of the action. “People are waking up to this new type of investment ecosystem,” said Sandy Kaul, head of digital asset and industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton. “We’ve seen a definite expansion of interest from our client base in the past 12 to 18 months.”

The first day of trading saw $2.3 billion worth of trading volume across all the products, Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on X. An additional preexisting $2.3 billion from Grayscale’s GBTC fund, which converted into a spot bitcoin ETF on Wednesday, brought the 11 issuers’ total to $4.6 billion.