VanEck Advances Avalanche ETF Filing

Competitive Fee Structure Signals Confidence

VanEck has set the ETF’s management fee at 0.30%, undercutting several rival Avalanche filings. By comparison, competing proposals from other issuers range from roughly 0.34% to 0.50%, making VanEck’s product one of the most cost-efficient AVAX vehicles currently proposed.

Notably, the fee includes no temporary waivers, suggesting VanEck expects sustained demand rather than short-term inflows driven by promotional pricing.

Avalanche Gains Momentum in the ETF Race

The amendment arrives amid a broader surge in altcoin ETF filings, following the commercial success of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs earlier in the cycle. With AVAX ETFs now being pursued by multiple issuers, Avalanche is increasingly being viewed as a serious Layer-1 contender in institutional markets.

Avalanche’s appeal lies in its subnet architecture, which allows developers and enterprises to deploy application-specific blockchains for DeFi, gaming, RWAs, and payments, an approach that has helped differentiate it from more monolithic Layer-1 networks.

Following news of the amended filing, AVAX briefly rallied, reflecting renewed optimism around institutional demand and long-term capital inflows.

Regulatory Path Still Uncertain

Despite the progress, approval is far from guaranteed. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has acknowledged the filing, but continues to scrutinize altcoin ETFs for issues around market manipulation, liquidity, and custody.

VanEck’s amendment also reclassifies the trust as a “smaller reporting company,” a technical adjustment that may streamline disclosures but does not materially reduce regulatory hurdles.

Why This Filing Matters

If approved, the VanEck Avalanche ETF would represent a meaningful evolution in crypto ETFs:

• Spot exposure to a major Layer-1 asset
• Onchain staking yield embedded into a regulated product
• Lower fees than competing AVAX proposals
• Institutional-grade custody and compliance

Together, these elements could significantly expand AVAX’s investor base, particularly among yield-seeking institutions constrained to traditional financial rails.

As the SEC deliberates heading into 2026, VanEck’s filing reinforces a broader trend: asset managers are no longer just packaging crypto price exposure, they are increasingly integrating native blockchain economics into familiar investment vehicles.