 
 
Crypto fund manager Bitwise designated a 0.20% fee for its Solana (SOL) exchange-traded fund, which has a staking component, as asset managers inch closer to securing a green light from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for their crypto-based ETFs.
Bitwise Sets Aggressively Low Fees For Its SOL ETF
In a Wednesday amendment to its registration statement, Bitwise formally renames its fund to the “Bitwise Solana Staking ETF,” while including language that enables it to “seek to provide exposure to the value of Solana held by the Trust.”
By adding staking, the funds would earn small rewards from helping secure blockchains like Solana or Ethereum. Those rewards flow back into the ETF, providing investors with an opportunity to earn additional income from the same assets, rather than relying solely on price gains.
The firm also stated that it would charge a 0.20% unitary management fee, a single charge that covers all fund operating costs, waived for the first three months on the first $1 billion in assets.
According to Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, this incredibly low fee could be a sign of how competitive the investment vehicle could get among ETF issuers.
 
“Bitwise not playing around, plans to charge just 0.20% for their spot Solana ETF,” Balchunas postulated. “Thought we’d see higher first, need war to get this low.”
At that rate, the proposed fee undercuts most competing crypto ETFs, which often fall between 0.15% and 0.25%, and matches the lowest levels seen among greenlighted crypto products.
“Low fees have near perfect record of attracting investors so good sign for inflow potential,” Balchunas explained.
The REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF (SSK), the US’s first Solana staking ETF, ended its first day of trading with $12 million in inflows. The annual management fee for the SSK stands at 0.75%.
According to Balchunas, Bitwise’s proposed offering is cheaper, has better tracking, and is 100% physically backed by Solana’s spot assets. “SSK is riddled with tracking issues like a futures ETF. It trails spot Solana by 12% — although it got better in the past month,” he opined.
BlackRock Snubs Solana
Despite leading the spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF markets, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has yet to submit paperwork with the SEC for an SOL ETF.
In August, Bloomberg’s ETF analyst James Seyffart suggested that it would be “messed up” if BlackRock were to file a last-minute application to debut its own SOL product simultaneously with other bidders, after those firms had already spent so much time working with the U.S. regulator to get the paperwork right.
Nonetheless, analysts have predicted that several applications for Solana ETFs with staking could win the SEC’s regulatory blessing in the course of this month.