Spot Bitcoin ETFs Compared: Fees, Custody and Structure

Of the ten U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs whose fee we could confirm from filings and fund documents on October 22, 2026 (WisdomTree's BTCW could not be confirmed), the lowest annual fee was 0.15%: the expense ratio the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (ticker BTC) reported in its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. Most of the others charge between 0.19% and 0.25%. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) charges 1.5%. The fee is only one of three costs, though. The other two are the spread you pay to trade the shares and how closely each fund's price follows bitcoin.

All of these funds hold actual bitcoin and pay their sponsor out of it. They differ in fee, custodian, the benchmark that sets the daily price, and whether large traders can swap shares for bitcoin directly. The tables come from the funds' prospectuses, issuer pages and quarterly SEC filings, each with its date. "Not verified" means we could not confirm the item from a primary document this month, so we did not guess. This page does not rank the funds. For related research, see the ETFs and institutional topic hub.

Table 1: Fees and Assets, Fund by Fund

Rows are alphabetical by ticker, not sorted by fee or size. "Net assets" comes from each trust's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, read from the SEC's structured XBRL data, so every fund is measured on the same date.

Three notes. First, June 30 is a snapshot. On October 21, 2026, issuer pages showed IBIT at $68.47 billion, ARKB at $2.71 billion and HODL at $1.24 billion; Bitwise showed BITB at $3.16 billion on October 20. Those are issuer figures, not filings, so they stay out of the column.

Second, a 10-Q expense ratio is what the fund actually incurred, which can differ slightly from the stated fee. FBTC reported 0.24% for the first half of 2026 against its stated 0.25%. We used the prospectus or fund-page rate wherever one was available.

Third, GBTC's own filings show its holdings falling from 619,526 bitcoin at the end of 2023, just before it became an ETF, to 138,506 at June 30, 2026. That drop is mostly redemptions, not fees.

Table 2: Custody, Benchmark, Listing and Creation Method

The second table covers the plumbing: operational risk and how tightly a share price can follow the fund's holdings.

The inception dates span January 4 to January 11, 2024, and the issuers do not all define "inception" the same way. A gap of a few days between two funds tells you nothing useful about either.

How the Sponsor Fee Actually Leaves Your Account

You never receive a bill from a spot bitcoin ETF. A spot trust has no income, so to pay its sponsor it gives up some of its bitcoin. The iShares prospectus says exactly that, and the risk disclosure on its fund page states the consequence: the amount of bitcoin represented by each share will decrease over the life of the trust. Unlike a stock fund, there are no dividends to absorb part of the fee.

The mechanics differ a little from fund to fund:

Under every variant, the bitcoin behind each share shrinks slowly and predictably. Bitwise publishes the number: 0.000543 bitcoin per BITB share on October 20, 2026. At 0.20% a year and no other expenses, that would be about 0.000542 a year later, whatever bitcoin's price does.

Sponsors generally absorb routine costs. iShares lists the trustee, custodian, administrator and listing fees it assumes, plus up to $500,000 a year of ordinary legal fees. Extraordinary costs such as litigation can still fall on the trust, so total costs can occasionally exceed the stated fee.

Worked Example: What the Fee Costs Over 1, 5 and 10 Years

This is a hypothetical illustration, not a projection. Inputs:

Read across the bottom row and the effect of a 1.5% fee is large. Over ten years, the gap between 0.15% and 1.5% is $1,244 on a $10,000 starting balance. Between 0.20% and 0.25%, the gap is $49 over the same decade.

Holding the price constant hides one useful fact. Because the fee is paid in bitcoin, the percentages above apply to your bitcoin, whatever the dollar price does. After ten years at 0.25%, the trust holds about 97.5% of the bitcoin per share it started with. If bitcoin doubled in that time, your dollar result would be roughly double the $9,753, not double $10,000. So the fee drag scales up with gains and down with losses, but the coin-count loss is fixed by the rate and the years.

The example ignores waivers and the trading spread, which for a short holding period can exceed a year of fee difference between two low-cost funds.

IBIT vs FBTC vs GBTC, Side by Side

Here is what the three funds' own documents say, without a verdict.

IBIT (iShares, BlackRock). Fee 0.25%, accrued daily on net asset value. Nasdaq-listed. Bitcoin held by Coinbase Custody, with Anchorage Digital named as an available second custodian that the sponsor had no plan to use as of the prospectus date. Valued on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, New York Variant. Creates and redeems in baskets of 40,000 shares for bitcoin or cash. As of July 31, 2025, Jane Street, Virtu, J.P. Morgan Securities and Marex had signed agreements allowing in-kind creations and redemptions. It held 734,261 bitcoin at June 30, 2026, per its 10-Q.

FBTC (Fidelity). Fee 0.25% of bitcoin holdings, accrued daily in bitcoin. Cboe BZX-listed. Custody sits with Fidelity's own trust bank, Fidelity Digital Assets, N.A., with BitGo named as an additional custodian. Valued on the Fidelity Bitcoin Reference Rate, an index Fidelity's own index arm developed. It is a volume-weighted median price calculated every 15 seconds over rolling sixty-minute windows, with Coin Metrics as calculation agent. Baskets are 25,000 shares, created with bitcoin or cash and redeemed in kind or for cash.

GBTC (Grayscale). Fee 1.5%, the rate in both its January 10, 2024 prospectus and its 2026 quarterly filings. NYSE Arca-listed. Custodian named in that prospectus: Coinbase Custody Trust Company. Its January 2024 prospectus valued bitcoin using the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX). Before 2024, GBTC issued shares privately to accredited investors, and those shares were quoted on the OTCQX market rather than redeemed. Its conversion prospectus records an average discount to NAV of 24% from July through September 2023, narrowing to 6% by January 4, 2024. The same prospectus said it could only accept cash orders, and it was not among the trusts named in the SEC's July 2025 in-kind order. We could not verify its current creation method from a primary document this month.

Grayscale's second fund, the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (ticker BTC), reported a 0.15% expense ratio for the second quarter of 2026. GBTC and BTC are separate trusts with separate fees. The confusing ticker is a known trap: "BTC" is also the usual shorthand for bitcoin itself. When you search or place an order, check the full fund name.

In short: IBIT and FBTC charge the same stated rate and differ in custody, benchmark and exchange. GBTC's fee is six times theirs. Which difference matters depends on holding period, account type and how much weight you give custody concentration. For a broader look at whether an ETF fits at all, compared with buying coins or crypto-related stocks, see our comparison of bitcoin ETFs, crypto stocks and holding bitcoin directly.

Same Bitcoin, Different Prices: Benchmarks and Tracking

There is no single official bitcoin price, so each prospectus names the reference rate used to value the fund once a day. They are not all the same.

Two funds with identical fees can therefore report slightly different daily returns. We did not measure the size of those gaps. They matter most for one-day comparisons, or for hedging one fund with a product priced off another benchmark.

Tracking also depends on whether the share price stays close to NAV during the trading day. That is a separate topic, and the premium and discount explainer linked at the end of this page covers it.

Custody: Who Actually Holds the Coins

Custody carries the tail risk. Among the custodians we could verify, Coinbase Custody appears most often: IBIT, BITB, BRRR, GBTC's 2024 prospectus, and HODL as a backup. That concentration is a fact, not a judgment on the custodian. Some sponsors have named second custodians (Anchorage for IBIT, BitGo for FBTC, Coinbase alongside Gemini for HODL), though IBIT and FBTC said they had no current plan to move coins.

Two affiliations are disclosed. BRRR's custodians include Komainu (Jersey) Limited, an affiliate of the sponsor. VanEck holds a minority interest, under 1%, in the parent of Gemini Trust Company, HODL's primary custodian. Neither disclosure alleges a problem; they let holders weigh conflicts themselves.

Bitwise also posts daily reserve examinations by The Network Firm LLP. On October 21, 2026, its page showed a reserve of 37,193 bitcoin against trust net assets of 37,189, the gap being accrued fees not yet paid. Our exchange reserve risk checklist covers what a reserve report can and cannot prove.

A practical boundary: owning ETF shares means you never hold the keys. For the Canadian-listed equivalents, with MERs, unit currencies and custodians dated, see Canadian bitcoin ETFs compared. If you want to hold bitcoin yourself, the steps are different. They are covered in our guide to moving coins from an exchange to self-custody. For a walk through one fund's SEC filings, from bitcoin per share to the vault and trading balances, see how spot bitcoin ETFs work; for Canadian registered accounts, see crypto in a TFSA or RRSP.

In-Kind vs Cash Creations: What the July 2025 Order Changed

When the SEC approved the first spot bitcoin ETPs in January 2024 (Release No. 34-99306), the trusts created and redeemed shares with their authorized participants in cash only. An authorized participant, or AP, is usually a registered broker-dealer with a contract to create and redeem shares in large blocks. Under a cash model, the trust itself has to buy bitcoin when shares are created and sell bitcoin when they are redeemed.

On July 29, 2025, the SEC approved rule changes from Nasdaq, Cboe BZX and NYSE Arca that let named trusts also create and redeem in kind, swapping shares for bitcoin directly. The order is Release No. 34-103571, published in the Federal Register on August 1, 2025, at 90 FR 36248. The bitcoin funds it named were:

The order also covered several ether trusts. In its reasoning, the Commission said in-kind transactions give the trusts an additional way to deal with APs and "may enhance tax efficiencies and minimize transaction costs." Grayscale's two bitcoin trusts and the CoinShares fund were not named in it.

Earlier, on May 15, 2025, the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets and FINRA's Office of General Counsel stated that broker-dealers may facilitate in-kind creations and redemptions for spot crypto products, according to the iShares prospectus. That prospectus adds that only some APs could support in-kind activity.

Three things to keep straight:

For how the regulators divide responsibility for these products and the underlying asset, see our map of SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over crypto. For what creations and redemptions look like in the daily numbers, see our explainer on bitcoin ETF flows.

Spread and Volume: Checking Your Trading Cost

The fee misses what you pay when you trade: the bid-ask spread, the gap between the best bid and the best offer. You pay roughly half of it going in and half coming out.

Two issuers publish a spread with a defined window. iShares showed a 30-day median bid-ask spread of 0.02% for IBIT as of October 21, 2026, with average daily volume of about 37.9 million shares over 30 days. Bitwise showed 0.02% for BITB on its page fetched October 22, 2026, sampling the national best bid and offer every 10 seconds over the last 30 calendar days and taking the median of spread divided by midpoint. We did not find comparably defined figures for the other funds, so we have not quoted any.

How to check any fund yourself:

For a multi-year holder, a few hundredths of a percent in spread is small next to the fee gaps in the worked example. For a frequent trader, the spread can be the larger cost.

Common Mistakes and Edge Cases

A Checklist for Comparing Any Spot Bitcoin ETF

Use this when a new fund launches or an existing one changes terms. Each line points to the document where the answer lives.

If two funds come out the same on every line, the stated fee is a reasonable tiebreaker. If they differ on custody, benchmark or trading cost, the fee may not be the deciding line.

Before choosing between any two tickers in Table 1, the most useful next read is our walk-through of how premiums and discounts to NAV arise in bitcoin ETFs. It explains the other number on every fund page that can cost more than a year of fee difference.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which bitcoin ETF has the lowest fee?

Among the ten funds whose fee we could confirm on October 22, 2026 (WisdomTree's BTCW was not confirmed), the lowest rate was the 0.15% expense ratio that the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (ticker BTC) reported for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. The Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) reported a 0.19% management fee rate for the same quarter. Bitwise's BITB and VanEck's HODL state 0.20%. Fees and waivers change, so confirm the current rate in the fund's latest prospectus supplement before relying on any table, including this one.

What is the difference between IBIT, FBTC and GBTC?

IBIT and FBTC both state a 0.25% fee. They differ in custody (Coinbase Custody for IBIT, Fidelity Digital Assets for FBTC), benchmark (the CME CF New York Variant rate against Fidelity's own reference rate) and exchange (Nasdaq against Cboe BZX). GBTC charges 1.5%, is listed on NYSE Arca, and began as a private trust that converted into an ETF in January 2024. GBTC was not named in the SEC's July 2025 order permitting in-kind creations.

How is a bitcoin ETF's fee taken if I never pay a bill?

The trust sells or transfers a small amount of its bitcoin to pay the sponsor. The fee accrues daily and is paid weekly, monthly or quarterly depending on the fund. That steadily reduces the bitcoin behind each share. Your share price already reflects the fee, so you see it as slightly lower returns than bitcoin itself, not as a separate charge.

Can I redeem my ETF shares for actual bitcoin?

No. In-kind creation and redemption, which the SEC approved for several trusts on July 29, 2025, applies only to authorized participants, the broker-dealers that create and redeem shares in large baskets. Individual holders sell shares on the exchange for cash. If you want bitcoin you control yourself, you would sell the shares and buy bitcoin separately.

Why do two bitcoin ETFs show slightly different daily returns?

They can price their holdings using different reference rates calculated over different windows, so the same bitcoin is valued at slightly different levels each day. Fees and any waivers also differ. On top of that, share prices can trade a little above or below net asset value. Over long periods these gaps are usually small next to bitcoin's own price moves.

Do the fees change after a waiver ends?

Yes, and several funds launched with temporary waivers. VanEck's full waiver on HODL's first $2.5 billion ran from November 25, 2025, to July 31, 2026, after which the fee became 0.20%. Sponsors announce waivers and their end dates in prospectus supplements, current reports on Form 8-K or the fund website.

Sources

CryptosEyes publishes general educational research, not investment, legal, or tax advice. The fund data above comes from issuer documents and SEC filings on the dates shown, and fees, waivers, custodians and benchmarks can change after those dates. Nothing here recommends buying, selling or holding any fund; read the current prospectus and consider speaking with a licensed adviser before investing.