Grayscale Investments has brought a Hyperliquid exchange-traded fund to Nasdaq, pricing its sponsor fee at 0.29% — a rate that undercuts similar offerings from 21Shares and Bitwise. The fund, which began trading this week, is the first U.S. Hyperliquid ETF from Grayscale and immediately becomes the cheapest option in the narrow but fast-growing corner of the crypto ETF market.
Fee advantage
The 0.29% sponsor fee puts Grayscale's ETF below the fees charged by 21Shares and Bitwise for their own Hyperliquid products. Exact fee amounts for those rivals were not disclosed in the launch announcement, but Grayscale explicitly marketed its fee as lower than both. The pricing strategy mirrors the broader trend among asset managers slashing costs to win flows in the competitive crypto ETF space.
What Hyperliquid ETFs track
Hyperliquid is a blockchain-based derivatives exchange that has drawn attention for its high-speed trading infrastructure. The ETFs are designed to track the performance of Hyperliquid's native token or related assets, offering traditional investors a regulated way to gain exposure without directly holding cryptocurrency. Grayscale's entry adds a major brand name to a segment that has so far been dominated by smaller issuers.
Competitive landscape
21Shares and Bitwise both launched Hyperliquid ETFs earlier this year, but Grayscale's lower fee could pressure them to cut prices or differentiate on other features. Grayscale already manages billions in crypto investment products, including its flagship Bitcoin Trust. The new ETF is listed on Nasdaq under a ticker symbol not yet announced. The firm said the fund is available to retail and institutional investors through standard brokerage accounts.
The listing comes as regulators continue to scrutinize crypto-linked ETFs, though Hyperliquid's structure has so far avoided the intense debate surrounding spot Bitcoin and Ethereum products. Grayscale's move suggests it sees enough demand from investors who want targeted exposure to decentralized finance infrastructure without betting on the broader crypto market.
Neither 21Shares nor Bitwise immediately responded to requests for comment on Grayscale's fee move. The ETF's trading volume and inflows over the first few sessions will offer the first real test of whether price alone can lure investors away from earlier entrants.
