BlackRock Just Priced Its Bitcoin Income ETF at 0.65%

BITA Sets 0.65% Fee

The latest S-1/A amendment, filed June 10 and accepted by the SEC late June 9, says the sponsor’s fee accrues daily at an annualized rate equal to 0.65% of the trust’s net asset value. The fee is payable at least quarterly in U.S. dollars, in-kind, or a mix of both.

That number gives the product a clearer commercial pitch. CoinDesk reported that the 0.65% fee is below the 0.95% and 0.99% fees charged by the two largest covered-call bitcoin ETFs, citing Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

The filing also shows how the fund was seeded before public trading. BlackRock Financial Management, an affiliate of the sponsor, bought 2,000 seed shares for $100,000 on April 21 and 198,000 additional shares for $9.9 million on June 1.

On June 9, the trust used those proceeds to buy 109.9630217 bitcoin and 90,901 IBIT shares, and to write 856 options contracts, according to the filing. The document does not disclose a public launch date.

The fee detail matters because BlackRock’s scale has already reshaped spot Bitcoin ETF competition. In May, Daily Crypto Briefs noted that the largest spot funds had become a major custody channel in the Bitcoin ETF race for more than 1.23 million BTC.

Covered Calls Cap Bitcoin Upside

BITA’s strategy is a covered-call, or buy-write, structure. The trust plans to hold bitcoin and IBIT shares, then sell call options primarily on IBIT shares and, at times, on indexes that track spot Bitcoin ETPs.

A call option gives its buyer the right to buy an asset at a set price. When BITA sells that option, the fund collects premium income, but it can give up part of the upside if IBIT or the reference index rallies through the option strike.

BlackRock says the sponsor aims to write call options on IBIT shares within a 25% to 35% range of the trust’s NAV. The filing says the predetermined range can change based on margin needs, cash management and market liquidity.

That is the tradeoff investors need to understand. BITA can generate income in flat or choppy bitcoin markets, but it is not designed to match a clean bitcoin rally point for point. The filing explicitly says the shares are not the equivalent of a direct investment in bitcoin or in a spot bitcoin ETP.

The product also sits in a market that now has several regulated wrappers competing for attention. Earlier multi-asset filings, such as T. Rowe Price’s active crypto ETF proposal, show asset managers trying to package crypto exposure in increasingly specific ways.

Nasdaq Approval Leaves Launch Timing

The SEC approved Nasdaq’s proposed rule change for the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF on May 29, according to the SEC approval order and the Federal Register notice published June 3. That cleared the exchange-listing question, but the final start of public trading was not immediately disclosed in the amendment.

Nasdaq approval and a completed fee line usually indicate a product is late in the filing process. Still, a filed amendment is not the same as a live trading launch, and investors will need a Nasdaq listing notice or BlackRock product page update to confirm the first trading session.

The broader market backdrop remains fragile. Alternative.me’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index printed 12, classified as Extreme Fear, on June 11 as bitcoin recovered from a brief move near $61,500.

What remains unknown is the exact launch date, opening liquidity, first-day spread and whether advisers treat BITA as a core Bitcoin income allocation or a tactical yield product. The next checkpoint is a live Nasdaq listing and BlackRock’s own product materials, where distribution policy and trading details should become easier to compare against the filing.