BlackRock filed another bitcoin income fund update. Rivals now have a fee problem.
BITA is BlackRock's attempt to turn IBIT's scale into monthly option income before smaller funds own the category.
CryptoVibe Desk · blackrock · bitcoin · etfs
- →BlackRock filed another amendment for BITA, a proposed bitcoin income fund expected to trade on Nasdaq.
- →CoinDesk reports a 0.65% sponsor fee, below two large rival funds cited at 0.95% and 0.99%.
- →Watch whether Nasdaq posts a BITA trading notice by month-end, and whether the fee lands at or below 0.65%.
- Covered-call ETF → A fund that owns an asset and sells contracts that pay income but limit some gains.
- Call option → A contract that gives a buyer the right to buy an asset at a set price.
- Sponsor fee → The annual fee charged by the fund sponsor to run the product.
- IBIT → BlackRock's spot bitcoin fund that holds bitcoin for investors through a stock-market account.
CoinDesk reports a 0.65% sponsor fee for BITA. That is the bet: BlackRock wants bitcoin income priced below the big rivals.
BlackRock has filed another SEC amendment for the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF. The proposed fund is expected to trade on Nasdaq under BITA. It would hold bitcoin and IBIT shares, then sell call options on part of that exposure.
The only number that matters is the fee. CoinDesk's June 11 report cited IBIT at $47 billion in assets. It also cited Eric Balchunas on rival covered-call bitcoin ETF fees of 0.95% and 0.99%.
That puts BlackRock below the two large rivals named in the report, YBTC and BTCI. The play is simple: use IBIT's scale, then sell a higher-fee income version before the category gets defined.
BITA plans to sell calls each month. The range is 25% to 35% of its value, according to CoinDesk. That creates income. It also limits some gains if bitcoin rallies hard.
If you own IBIT for clean bitcoin exposure, BITA is not the same bet. You're trading part of the rally for monthly income, and that's the catch.
The tape matches the story. BlackRock already owns the spot-bitcoin ETF lane. Now it is trying to own the income lane too.
BlackRock's reported 0.65% fee is aggressive. It turns IBIT's reported $47 billion base into a sales weapon before YBTC and BTCI can own bitcoin income.
By the end of June, watch for Nasdaq to post BITA's first trading notice, with a listed expense ratio at or below the reported 0.65%.
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