In brief
- GBTC has maintained its revenue dominance, generating more revenue than BlackRock and other major issuers combined
- Grayscale's first-mover advantage sustains its revenue lead, roughly 16 months after spot ETFs were approved.
- Tax implications prevent many investors from switching to lower-fee alternatives despite potential savings.
Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) generates more revenue than all other spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds combined, despite charging fees that are up to seven times higher than its competitors.
GBTC is still "making more $$$ than all of the other ETFs combined..." Nate Geraci, president of ETF Store, stated on X on Sunday. "And it's not even close."
The fund generates approximately $268.5 million in annual revenue, with a 1.5% expense ratio applied to $17.9 billion in assets under management, according to Coinglass data.
All the other U.S.-Bitcoin ETFs shown by Geraci generate an implied annual revenue of a little over $211.8 million from a total of $89 billion in assets under management.
GBTC's revenue dominance persists despite losing more than half its holdings since spot Bitcoin ETFs went live in January 2024, revealing how fee structures have shaped the fund's economics, regardless of market share.
Aside from its first-mover advantage and brand recognition, Grayscale's control over GBTC's management allows it to charge a 1.5% fee.
For example, BlackRock's IBIT holds three times more assets, at $56 billion, compared to GBTC's $18 billion, but it generates only about $137 million in revenue with its 0.25% fee.
In response, Grayscale launched its Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) in March 2025 primarily to offer a lower-cost alternative to GBTC’s fee, while also diversifying its product lineup amid intensifying competition.
Lose some, win some
Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) pioneered regulated Bitcoin investment in 2013 as a private trust, before offering an ETF in January of last year, alongside several other ETF issuers.
All this rolled into place after Grayscale won a landmark case against the then-Gensler-led SEC to convert its trust to an ETF.
When a trust converts to an ETF, key aspects of its structure change.
From a closed-end form, it becomes open-ended, allowing shares to be redeemed based on demand.
Because their distribution and transaction costs are different and often lower, the expense ratios for ETFs have been "historically less than those for corresponding mutual funds," the SEC explains.
As such, ETFs "can be more tax efficient" because ETF shares are generally redeemable "in-kind," the SEC notes.
In April last year, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein claimed that the fees "will come down" as the ETF market matures.
The largest single-day outflow for GBTC was recorded on March 19, 2024, totaling $618 million, according to CoinGlass data.
At this pace, it could run out of Bitcoin by July 8, though James Seyffart, ETF research analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, previously told Decrypt that its outflows would "slow from here."
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair