Franklin Templeton, VanEck and Invesco Galaxy file amended S-1 for spot Ethereum ETFs, Franklin lists 0.19% fee

Quick Take

  • Franklin Templeton, VanEck and Invesco Galaxy filed amended S-1 forms for their spot Ethereum ETF applications.
  • Franklin Templeton plans to charge a 0.19% sponsor fee, according to its filing.

Franklin Templeton, VanEck and Invesco Galaxy filed amended S-1 forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday for their spot Ethereum ETH -0.58% ETF applications. 

Those issuers, along with others, after successfully launching a spot Bitcoin BTC -1.85% ETF, are now trying to complete the necessary regulatory steps to launch a similar product that will allow investors to bet on the price of Ethereum without having to buy the cryptocurrency directly.

Franklin Templeton plans to charge a 0.19% sponsor fee, according to its filing. This is the same percentage it will charge for its spot Bitcoin ETF (EZBC) — the cheapest among its peers — come August. Initially the firm is not charging a fee to invest in its spot bitcoin ETF.

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas quickly commented on the proposed fee. "The opening shot in the Eth ETF fee war has been fired from Franklin, 19bps," he said in a post to X.

The SEC told prospective spot Ethereum ETF issuers to file their amended S-1 forms by Friday, The Block previously reported. However, it could take a few weeks for the S-1 forms become effective and the new financial products to begin trading.

When spot Ethereum ETF applications received their initial approval last week, VanEck quickly filed an amended version of its S-1 form. On Thursday, BlackRock filed its updated form, disclosing that its ETF would be seeded with $10 million.

Franklin Templeton's spot Bitcoin ETF has about $350 million in assets under management, according to The Block Data Dashboard.

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VanEck said it received $100,000 in seed investment, in its latest amended S-1 filing.

Invesco Galaxy added in its latest amended S-1 filing that the Bank of New York Mellon will be the cash custodian, while Coinbase Custody Trust Company LLC will be the custodian for ether. 

Sarah Wynn contributed reporting

Updated at 8:40 p.m. UTC time to include details about Invesco and VanEck's latest filings 


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