STCE vs WGMI

STCEASchwab Crypto Thematic ETF

WGMICCoinShares Bitcoin Mining ETF

In short

STCE Crypto exposure without owning a coin. STCE holds about 40 global companies tied to digital assets and blockchain, chosen by Schwab's own index, at a price that undercuts most thematic funds.

WGMI The pickaxe trade, not the gold. WGMI skips bitcoin itself and buys the companies mining it, plus the chipmakers and software shops arming them, with a manager picking the names instead of a fixed index.

Stated mandate

STCE The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, an index providing global exposure to companies that may benefit from developing or using cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, or from business activities tied to blockchain and distributed-ledger technology.

WGMI The Fund seeks total return. It is actively managed and invests primarily in companies connected with bitcoin mining, including miners and providers of specialized mining-related technology and services.

Why people hold it

• STCE Charges 0.30% a year, roughly half the typical fund in its global thematic group. Schwab billed it as the lowest-cost crypto-related ETF when it launched in 2022.aboutschwab.com
• Stocks, not coins: the index targets companies worldwide that may benefit from cryptocurrencies, digital assets and distributed-ledger technology.schwabassetmanagement.com
• Cheap, straightforward and liquid enough for a niche theme, which puts it in the top quartile of its global thematic peer group.

• WGMI Pure-play by rule: at least 80% of assets go to companies earning 50% or more of revenue from bitcoin mining, or from selling miners chips, hardware, software and services.coinshares.comsec.gov
• Actively managed, so the portfolio can shift between miners as power costs and hash economics reshuffle the field, rather than waiting on an index reconstitution.sec.gov
• Equities only. The fund does not hold bitcoin directly, through derivatives, or via bitcoin trusts, so what you own is the industry balance sheets, not the coin.sec.govcoinshares.com
• Listed since 2022 and actively traded, which is a long track record in crypto years and puts it in the upper half of its crypto-equity peer group.

Worth knowing

• STCE Crypto-linked equities move violently, and with roughly 40 non-diversified names, a stumble at one holding is felt across the fund.aaii.com
• It owns crypto-adjacent businesses, not bitcoin, so its path can diverge from the coins themselves in either direction.aaii.com
• Modest asset base by ETF standards and distributions land only once or twice a year, so this is a theme sleeve rather than an income holding.

• WGMI 0.75% a year runs a little above the typical fund in its crypto-equity cohort. That is the toll for active stock picking over an index.
• No distributions. Whatever this does, it does through share price, not income.
• Narrow by design. Broader blockchain baskets like BKCH and BLOK spread across more of the crypto economy; WGMI stays on miners and their suppliers, US and overseas.

Full STCE profile⁠

Full WGMI profile⁠