The spot Bitcoin ETF race kicked off in January 2024 with more than a dozen issuers sprinting out of the gate. Eighteen months later, the field has thinned into a two-horse race between BlackRock and Fidelity, with everyone else fighting for scraps.
VanEck’s HODL ETF sits somewhere between $1.1 billion and $1.9 billion in assets under management. Fidelity’s FBTC, by contrast, commands between $13.5 billion and $24 billion.
The fee war that didn’t move the needle
VanEck has tried the oldest trick in the asset management playbook: undercut on price. The firm waived its standard 0.20% sponsor fee on HODL all the way down to zero, a promotion set to last until the end of July 2026 or until the fund hits $2.5 billion in AUM.
Fidelity charges a 0.25% expense ratio on FBTC, which is modest but measurably more expensive than literally nothing. Yet investors keep choosing FBTC anyway.
