The cost of a bitcoin ETF fee

The fee is a share of your balance, so it grows when bitcoin grows. See the cost, and compare 14 US spot funds.

Lowest fee
0.14%
Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT)
Highest fee
1.50%
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC)
Funds compared
14
US spot bitcoin ETFs. See the table

Updated · Changes

$500,000
15%

This is your estimate. It is not a forecast.

Number of years

IBIT fees in 20 years

$142,332

The fee is a percentage of your balance. When your balance grows, the fee grows. The fee is $1,438 in year 1 and $19,508 in year 20.

Casa Premium costs $2,100 each year. This price does not change with your balance. The fund fee is more than this price from year 4.

Part of your bitcoin that pays the fee
4.9%
This is the same at all bitcoin prices.
Total cost of the fee
$399,590
The fees, plus the growth that you lose on them.
Casa Premium in the same years
$42,000
$2,100 each year, for all balances.

“The amount of bitcoin represented by each Share will decrease over the life of the Trust due to the sales of bitcoin necessary to pay the Sponsor’s Fee.”

IBIT prospectus

The IBIT sponsor fee is 0.25% of your balance each year (source: iShares fund page, October 1, 2026). The Casa Premium price is the current list price. This calculator applies the fee 1 time each year. Funds apply it each day. This is an example. It is not investment advice.

The fee of each US spot bitcoin ETF

The table starts with the lowest fee. The cost column uses the example of the calculator, $500,000 for 20 years with 15% growth each year.

FundFee each yearCustodianCost in 20 yearsSource
Morgan Stanley Bitcoin TrustMSBT0.14%BNY and Coinbase Custody$80,90910-Q filingChecked
Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETFBTC0.15%Coinbase Custody$86,57010-Q filingChecked
Franklin Bitcoin ETFEZBC0.19%Coinbase Custody$109,05910-Q filingChecked
Bitwise Bitcoin ETFBITB0.20%Coinbase Custody$114,643Bitwise fund pageChecked
VanEck Bitcoin ETFHODL0.20%Gemini and Coinbase Custody$114,643VanEck fund pageChecked
ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETFARKB0.21%Coinbase Custody, BitGo and Anchorage$120,212prospectus supplementChecked
CoinShares Bitcoin ETFBRRR0.25%Coinbase Custody, BitGo and Komainu$142,33210-Q filingChecked
Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETFBTCO0.25%Coinbase Custody$142,33210-Q filingChecked
WisdomTree Bitcoin FundBTCW0.25%Coinbase Custody$142,33210-Q filingChecked
Hashdex Bitcoin ETFDEFI0.25%BitGo$142,332prospectusChecked
Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin FundFBTC0.25%Fidelity Digital Assets$142,33210-Q filingChecked
iShares Bitcoin Trust ETFIBIT0.25%Coinbase Custody$142,332iShares fund pageChecked
Osprey Bitcoin TrustOBTC0.49%Coinbase Custody$270,013prospectusChecked
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETFGBTC1.50%Coinbase Custody$720,99810-Q filingChecked

How the calculator works

A fund sells some of its bitcoin to pay its fee. The fee is a percentage of the value of the fund, so the fee in dollars grows when the price of bitcoin grows. The calculator adds the fee of each year, with the price growth that you select. 15% each year is an example, not a forecast.

Changes to this table

  • . The table has 14 funds. Each fee comes from the fund's prospectus, filing or fund page, on the date shown.

Fees can change. Check the fund before you rely on a fee.

What you own

We found no US spot bitcoin ETF that lost bitcoin at its custodian. But the structure of a fund has risks.

You own shares, not bitcoin

The IBIT prospectus says “Individual Shares will not be redeemed by the Trust.” Only authorized participants can exchange shares for bitcoin. They are registered broker-dealers, and they exchange 40,000 shares at a time. Before GBTC became an ETF, the price of its shares was as much as 49% less than the value of its bitcoin.

IBIT prospectusGrayscale 2023 annual report

One company holds most of the bitcoin

Coinbase is the custodian for most US spot bitcoin funds. IBIT is one of them. Coinbase says that it holds more than 80% of US bitcoin and ether ETF assets.

Coinbase shareholder letter, Q4 2025

The insurance is much smaller than the fund

The IBIT custodian has crime insurance of up to $320 million. All its customers share this insurance. The prospectus says that this amount “may be substantially lower than the assets of the Trust.” The trust and its sponsor do not insure the bitcoin.

IBIT prospectus

If the custodian fails, recovery can take years

A court can decide that the bitcoin is part of the property of a bankrupt custodian. The prospectus says that this can cause “protracted litigation”. It also says that the trust can get back “only a fraction of the Trust’s property.”

IBIT prospectus

Losses at custodians

Companies that hold bitcoin for customers failed in the past. Some of them were regulated. Prime Trust was a regulated trust company in Nevada. In 2023 it did not pay withdrawals, and it went bankrupt. These are the total losses at exchanges, lenders and custodians.

Total lost, stolen or frozen
$28.5B
US dollars at the time of each incident. Later repayments are not subtracted.
Incidents
154
Thefts, bankruptcies, frauds and stopped withdrawals since 2011.
Bitcoin lost or stolen
1.3M BTC
Only the incidents with a known bitcoin amount.

The 5 largest losses

  1. 2022FTXFTX moved customer deposits to its sister company, Alameda. Withdrawals stopped, and FTX filed for bankruptcy 2 days later.$8BFraud
  2. 2022Celsius NetworkThe lender stopped all withdrawals. One month later, it filed for bankruptcy. It owed its users $4.7 billion.$4.7BCollapse
  3. 2022Genesis (incl. Gemini Earn)Genesis stopped withdrawals after FTX failed. Approximately $900 million that it owed to 340,000 Gemini Earn users was frozen.$3.5BCollapse
  4. 2025BybitThis is the largest known crypto theft. The FBI said that North Korea did it. Bybit continued to pay withdrawals and paid for the loss.$1.5BHack
  5. 2022Voyager DigitalA borrower did not repay a loan of approximately $650 million. Voyager stopped withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy in the same week.$1.3BCollapse

See all 154 incidents and their sourcesThe amounts are from the time of each incident. Some companies repaid their customers later. The full list shows which companies did.

Questions and answers

Which bitcoin ETF has the lowest fee?

The Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), at 0.14% each year. The next lowest are the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (BTC), at 0.15%, and the Franklin Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), at 0.19%.

Which bitcoin ETF has the highest fee?

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), at 1.50% each year. On $500,000 for 20 years, with 15% growth each year, this fee costs $720,998.

Do you own bitcoin when you buy a bitcoin ETF?

No. You own shares of the fund, and a custodian holds the fund's bitcoin. Only authorized participants can exchange shares for bitcoin. They are registered broker-dealers.

Who holds the bitcoin of a bitcoin ETF?

A custodian. 12 of the 14 funds in this table use Coinbase Custody, alone or with other custodians. Coinbase says that it holds more than 80% of US bitcoin and ether ETF assets.

How much does a 0.25% fee cost?

On $500,000, a 0.25% fee costs $142,332 in 20 years, if the price of bitcoin grows 15% each year. The fee grows with the price, so most of the cost comes in the last years.

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