BlackRock nears launch of income-paying bitcoin ETF with lower fee than covered-call rivals

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BlackRock income bitcoin ETF launch

Highlights

BlackRock filed a fourth SEC amendment for the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, signaling imminent launch after seeding and initial bitcoin acquisitions.
The ETF will charge a 0.65% sponsor fee, undercutting rivals YBTC and BTCI with 0.95% and 0.99% fees, increasing competitive pressure in the U.S. bitcoin ETF sector.
BlackRock aims to deepen its lead in spot bitcoin ETF inflows and assets by introducing a yield-focused product before Goldman Sachs' launch expected around July 1.

Filing points to imminent market debut

As reported by the SEC filing, BlackRock submitted its fourth amendment on Tuesday for the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, a sign the product is nearing launch. The fund is already seeded and has begun buying bitcoin and shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, IBIT, indicating operational readiness ahead of trading.

BITA is designed to hold bitcoin and IBIT shares, then sell call options each month on a portion of those IBIT holdings. The strategy generates option premium that is passed on to investors as income, but it also limits upside when bitcoin rises sharply. The filing says the fund plans to write calls on 25% to 35% of its value at a time.

Fee pressure builds in U.S. bitcoin ETF market

BlackRock set the sponsor fee at 0.65%, below the 0.95% and 0.99% charged by the two largest covered-call bitcoin funds, YBTC and BTCI. Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said in a post on X that the pricing gives BlackRock an edge even though the fee is higher than that of plain spot bitcoin ETFs such as IBIT.

Balchunas said he expects the fund to launch very soon as BlackRock faces pressure to reach the market before Goldman Sachs, whose own bitcoin fund is due to go live around July 1. A debut would deepen BlackRock's position in a U.S. spot bitcoin ETF market where IBIT already leads inflows and, alongside Fidelity's FBTC, increasingly dominates sector assets and daily flow activity.

The new product also marks another step in adapting bitcoin exposure for mainstream investors seeking yield rather than only price appreciation. By pairing direct crypto-linked holdings with an options-income strategy, BlackRock is extending the asset class into a format more familiar to income-oriented ETF buyers.

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