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Osprey Bitcoin Trust (OBTC), a challenger to behemoth Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), has begun trading on the over-the-counter (OTC) market.

OBTC boasts a lower 0.49% management fee compared to GBTC’s 2% annual fee, but the product levies additional charges, including custody and legal fees, as The Block reported last month.

Detailing those charges on Tuesday, Osprey Funds CEO Greg King told The Block that the firm expects those charges to be “0.30% or less for 2021.”

Going forward, King expects those costs to “go down as a percentage of the fund as the fund grows in size, benefiting investors rather than the fund sponsor.”

While OBTC’s charges are low, market insiders told The Block recently that they don’t believe it will challenge GBTC’s market dominance. This is because GBTC boasts significant liquidity and often trades at a premium, they said at the time.

Given GBTC’s success, several crypto firms have moved to launch similar products in recent weeks. Bitwise, for instance, began the regulatory process to list its bitcoin fund on OTC markets. BlockFi launched its bitcoin trust that charges a management fee of 1.75%.

© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Crypto exchange Coinbase has today opened up a waitlist for Ethereum 2.0 staking rewards after initially announcing support last November.

Coinbase said Tuesday that its customers will be able to earn up to 7.5% per annum staking rewards for holding ether (ETH). The rewards include a 25% commission, meaning the net returns for customers will be lower by that percentage.

Besides staking rewards on ETH, Coinbase will also allow trading for any staked ETH “in the coming months.” This would be an essential feature since staked ETH remains locked and cannot be withdrawn until phase 1.5 of Ethereum 2.0 goes live, sometime in 2022.

When asked when the Eth2 staking service will go fully live, a Coinbase spokesperson told The Block: “Very soon.” The waitlist isn’t open for New York residents. 

More people are staking their ETH holdings to earn rewards, as The Block reported last week. Thus far, more than 3 million ETH, worth more than $5.2 billion at current prices, has been deposited in the Eth2 staking contract.

With Eth2, Coinbase now supports three coins for its staking rewards service, including Tezos and Cosmos. 

© 2021 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.