{"url":"https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin","section":"questions","title":"Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference? | ETFIQ","description":"The fund holds the coin for you and charges for it, and you own a share rather than the asset. Answered from ETFIQ data as of Oct 28, 2026.","as_of":"Oct 28, 2026","structured_data":[{"@type":"FAQPage","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The fund holds the coin for you and charges for it, and you own a share rather than the asset. Over their longest window 36 of the 45 spot ETFs ETFIQ measures landed within a point of the coin, so the cost of that arrangement is usually small and it is never nothing."}}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ETFIQ","item":"https://etfiq.com/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Questions","item":"https://etfiq.com/questions/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?","item":"https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin"}]},{"@type":"WebPage","name":"Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?","description":"The fund holds the coin for you and charges for it, and you own a share rather than the asset. Answered from ETFIQ data as of Oct 28, 2026.","url":"https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin","dateModified":"2026-10-28","isPartOf":{"@type":"WebSite","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"speakable":{"@type":"SpeakableSpecification","cssSelector":[".lede"]},"publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org"}}],"characters":3545,"truncated":false,"content":"ETFIQ / Questions / Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference? \n \n Answered from ETFIQ data as of Oct 28, 2026 .\n Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?\n The fund holds the coin for you and charges for it, and you own a share rather than the asset. Over their longest window 36 of the 45 spot ETFs ETFIQ measures landed within a point of the coin, so the cost of that arrangement is usually small and it is never nothing.\n What you gain is a brokerage account: no wallet, no keys, no exchange, and a security your existing broker settles and reports on. What you give up is direct ownership, and on a proof of stake coin the option to stake it yourself.\n The costs are the sponsor\u2019s fee, the custodian, and the friction of creating and redeeming shares in blocks. ETFIQ does not add them up from documents. It measures what came out the other end: the fund\u2019s return against the coin\u2019s over the same days. That number carries everything, including costs nobody discloses.\n 53 of the 70 are 1933 Act trusts that file a 10-K rather than registered funds that file an N-PORT; BHDG , BITC , BITO , BNAV , CHNL , CRDD , DOJE , EETH , HBTC , MAXI , NGHT , ORO , SOLZ , SSK , STLR , XRPI and XRPR are registered series and file an N-PORT. A 1933 Act trust has a sponsor, not an adviser, and publishes no 19a-1 notice. The industry and the regulator call these digital asset products. Most sponsors now call them ETFs.\n On ETFIQ today\n Ticker Fund Holds The fund The coin Difference \n HODL VanEck Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin \u221228.3% \u221228.3% 0.0 pts \n BTC Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF Bitcoin \u221228.4% \u221228.3% \u22120.1 pts \n SUIS Canary Staked SUI ETF Sui +2.0% +2.1% \u22120.1 pts \n ETHW Bitwise Ethereum ETF Ether \u221241.4% \u221241.3% \u22120.1 pts \n EZET Franklin Ethereum Trust Ether \u221241.5% \u221241.3% \u22120.1 pts \n ARKB Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin \u221228.4% \u221228.3% \u22120.1 pts \n BITB Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Bitcoin \u221228.4% \u221228.3% \u22120.1 pts \n FETH Fidelity Ethereum Fund Ether \u221241.5% \u221241.3% \u22120.2 pts \n IBIT iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF Bitcoin \u221228.5% \u221228.3% \u22120.2 pts \n MSSE Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust Ether +23.6% +23.4% +0.2 pts \n TSUI 21Shares Sui Staking ETF Sui +10.0% +9.8% +0.2 pts \n FBTC Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund Bitcoin \u221228.5% \u221228.3% \u22120.2 pts \n \n Where to next\n Every crypto fund, by what it holds Method Sources\n SEC EDGAR, full-text search of fund filings SEC Form N-PORT, what a fund filed it holds Rule 19a-1, what a distribution notice must say Links are sources, not endorsements.\n ETFIQ is an independent publisher and makes no recommendations. Standards and sources \n Cite this page. ETFIQ, Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms. The underlying files are at Open data .\n Other forms Plain ETFIQ, Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin APA ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin Markdown [Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference? (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin)","source":"ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.","publisher":{"@id":"https://etfiq.com/#org","name":"ETFIQ","url":"https://etfiq.com"},"license":"https://etfiq.com/license/","license_text":"Data ETFIQ computes is free to use with attribution: ETFIQ (etfiq.com). Issuer data stays under its owner's terms.","citation":"ETFIQ, Crypto ETF or buy the coin: what is the difference?, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/questions/what-is-the-difference-between-a-crypto-etf-and-buying-the-coin"}