Fidelity lowers proposed spot bitcoin ETF fee to 0.25% amid fee race

Fidelity plans to lower the fee for its proposed spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) to 0.25% in a refiling, according to a revised S-1 form submitted Tuesday. 

Fidelity previously marked its fee to 0.39% on Dec. 29. The company plans to also waive the fee for market participants until July 31, according to the document. 

U.S. contenders in pushing out the first line of spot bitcoin ETFs have been competing to attract the market by lowering fees upon the looming potential approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Asset managers such as Bitwise, WisdomTree, Invesco and Valkyrie raced to the bottom for fees as per their filings earlier this week. 

It is widely expected that the U.S. financial regulator will announce its decision on Wednesday. Jan van Eck, the CEO of spot bitcoin ETF applicant VanEck, told CNBC on Tuesday that he expects his company’s proposed fund to begin trading on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the SEC said its X account was hacked earlier today . The account had tweeted a fake post that the spot bitcoin ETF applications had been approved. The incident caused the price of bitcoin to drop to around $45,880 at publication time from reaching above $47,000 on Monday. 

The SEC, following the unauthorized access, told The Block that it will work with law enforcement to investigate the matter.

Despite the incident, James Seyffart, Bloomberg Intelligence research analyst, said in a post on X that the ETF verdict will likely follow the original schedule. “We're still expecting potential approvals tomorrow and for potential trading to begin Thursday,” Seyffart wrote on X.