Asset management firms looking to get their spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trading in the United States have submitted amended registration statements late Friday, providing fresh details on fees and seed investments.

Standard Chartered is set to become one of the first major banks to wade directly into the spot cryptocurrency market, as it’s establishing a trading desk for Bitcoin and Ether.

Despite his well-known support for the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin, Elon Musk's plans for a payments system on X (formerly Twitter) won't involve digital assets at launch.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

•   Ethereum ETF Issuers Lock in Fees, Seed Investments in Final Push for Approval
•   Standard Chartered to Launch Spot Bitcoin and Ether Trading Desk
•   X’s Payments to Launch Without Cryptocurrency Support

Ethereum ETF Issuers Lock in Fees, Seed Investments in Final Push for Approval

Asset management firms looking to get their spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) trading in the United States have submitted amended registration statements late Friday, providing fresh details on fees and seed investments.

BlackRock, VanEck, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale Investments, Invesco Galaxy and 21Shares all submitted their updated filings on Friday afternoon. Two of the issuers have disclosed their management fees, with Franklin Templeton setting the bar in May at 0.19% for its spot Ethereum ETF, while VanEck followed suit on Friday, announcing a fee of 0.20%.

Eric Balchunas, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst, said on social media that VanEck’s fee is low, right around Franklin Templeton’s low fee, which adds a “touch of pressure on BlackRock to stay under 30bps at least.” To the analyst it appears spot Ether ETFs are going have low or “even lower” fees than spot BTC ETFs.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 19b-4 forms for eight Ethereum ETFs last month, but these firms’ registration statements, known as S-1s, still need to be approved for the funds to start trading. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said these are on track to be approved in the summer.

Friday's filings also shed light on seed investments from the sponsoring firms. Franklin Templeton disclosed a $100,000 seed investment in its amended filing for the Franklin Ethereum ETF and Grayscale, along with other issuers, included additional disclosures regarding Ethereum and the associated risks within their filings.

An amended registration statement was also submitted on Friday for the Invesco Galaxy Ethereum ETF, which revealed a $100,000 seed investment from Invesco Ltd.

Standard Chartered to Launch Spot Bitcoin and Ether Trading Desk

Standard Chartered is set to become one of the first major banks to wade directly into the spot cryptocurrency market, as it’s establishing a trading desk for Bitcoin and Ether.

The new desk, expected to in the near future, will operate within the bank's existing foreign exchange trading unit in London. While banks like Goldman Sachs have dabbled in cryptocurrency derivatives for years, strict regulations have largely kept them from handling the underlying assets themselves.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s proposed risk weightings of 1,250% on unhedged crypto holdings made it hard for such venture to be profitable. In a statement, Standard Chartered said it’s been working closely with regulators to support demand from institutional clients to trade BTC and ETH.

The bank already holds stakes in Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, crypto firms offering services like custody and over-the-counter trading. Additionally, in November, they launched Libeara, a blockchain unit dedicated to facilitating the institutional tokenization of traditional assets, which is now working on a Singapore dollar-denominated government bond fund.

X’s Payments to Launch Without Cryptocurrency Support

Despite his well-known support for the meme-inspired cryptocurrency Dogecoin, Elon Musk's plans for a payments system on X (formerly Twitter) won't involve digital assets at launch.

Regulatory documents show plans for a subsidiary named X Payments, which has secured money transmitter licenses in 28 states and is seeking approval in the others. X Payments is expected to function similarly to existing mobile payment services like Venmo or Zelle, allowing users to transact on the microblogging platform.

While cryptocurrency integration may come in the future, the documents suggest it won’t be there at launch. X CEO Linda Yaccarino has recently spoken about the potential of the payments feature, which she said is “actually redefining what users will come to rely on.”

Despite the lack of an initial integration, X owner Elon Musk’s support for digital assets is evident, as he regularly posts about cryptocurrencies and his other companies, including Tesla, have invested in Bitcoin.

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