Bitwise 'not playing around,' sets 0.20% fee for its Solana staking ETF

Crypto index fund manager Bitwise designated a 0.20% fee for its Solana staking exchange-traded fund as firms inch closer to getting the Securities and Exchange Commission's blessing for dozens of crypto ETFs.

In an amendment to its registration statement filed on Wednesday for the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, the firm stated that it would charge a 0.20% fee, which one analyst noted was lower than expected. 

"Bitwise not playing around, plans to charge just 0.20% for their spot Solana ETF,"  said Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas on Wednesday in a post on X. "Thought we'd see higher first, need war to get this low."

"Low fees have near perfect record of attracting investors so good sign for inflow potential," he added.

Fees for Bitcoin ETFs and Ethereum ETFs are also within that 0.20% range when they got the SEC's approval last year. Dozens and dozens of proposals have been filed for several types of crypto ETFs over the past year, from ones tracking DOGE to LTC to SOL. During the Biden administration, the SEC greenlighted spot Bitcoin ETFs and later Ethereum ETFs, following a pivotal court ruling brought by Grayscale.

Potential crypto ETF approvals, however, have been put on ice after the U.S. government shutdown last week after Congress failed to reach a deal on funding. This means that the SEC is currently working under an operations plan whereby it has an "extremely limited number of staff members available to respond to emergency situations," according to that guidance .

Also on Wednesday, 21Shares said it would be introducing staking to its 21Shares Ethereum ETF as well as a one-year waiver of its sponsor fee. 

"Enhancing the 21Shares Ethereum ETF through staking represents the natural evolution of Ethereum investment products in the U.S. market, enabling investors to benefit from potential yield-generation on the Ethereum protocol," the firm said in a statement.