Lite Strategy / GSR: 1.75% AUM paid in equity inside a ten-year exclusive manager mandate.
Lite Strategy's Litecoin treasury agreement with GSR is a useful same-role comparator because the 1.75% headline rate is only one part of the economic stack. The fee is equity-settled, the manager received separate warrants, the initial term is ten years, ordinary company exit is tied to ending the LTC strategy, and the agreement includes a remaining-term termination formula.
Agreement snapshot
| Field | Publicly disclosed term |
|---|---|
| Effective date | July 22, 2025 |
| Provider | GSR Strategies LLC |
| Role | Discretionary management of designated Account Assets under a long-only strategy investing primarily in Litecoin |
| Management fee | 1.75% per annum of Account Assets |
| Fee payment | Shares of common stock until GSR and affiliates would exceed 4.99% ownership; then pre-funded warrants. The first payment was due 60 days after closing; later payments are annual on each 12-month anniversary |
| Separate warrants | 1,461,989 GSR warrants at four disclosed exercise-price tranches |
| Initial term | 10 years |
| Ordinary company exit | Beginning after the first anniversary, 90 days' notice following a Board decision to end the LTC Strategy |
| Early-termination formula | Present value of remaining years in the term multiplied by the average Asset-based Fee for completed years, paid in shares or pre-funded warrants under the agreement mechanics |
| Exclusivity | GSR is the exclusive provider of the contemplated asset-management services during the term unless it consents to a substantially similar third-party provider |
The 1.75% fee is not a simple annual cash charge
The fee schedule requires equity settlement rather than ordinary cash payment. On September 24, 2025, the company disclosed that it issued GSR 546,348 pre-funded warrants with a $0.0001 exercise price as payment of the annual Asset-based Fee. Separate from that recurring fee, the original agreement also provided GSR warrants to purchase 1,461,989 common shares across four exercise-price tranches.
Company-side flexibility is tied to the treasury strategy itself
The agreement runs to the tenth anniversary and then may continue in successive one-year renewal periods. Beginning on the first anniversary, the company can use the disclosed ordinary termination path only after its Board determines to end the LTC Strategy, with at least 90 days' written notice.
If that company-side termination path is used, the agreement provides for an early-termination fee equal to the present value of the remaining years in the term multiplied by the average Asset-based Fee for completed years. The termination fee is in addition to fees accruing through the termination date.
GSR also has a governance connection through a separate side letter
A separate Side Letter gave GSR, as a PIPE purchaser, the right to nominate one person to the Board. Joshua Riezman, a GSR executive, was appointed under that right. This is not itself a management-fee term and should not be blended into the fee rate, but it is a separate governance field relevant to the overall provider relationship.
Currentness remained strong into July 2026
The March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q continued to describe GSR's discretionary mandate, the 1.75% fee and the separate GSR warrants. July 2026 company disclosures continued to describe active treasury management with GSR and identified Riezman as both a Lite Strategy Board member and a GSR executive. The company also disclosed continuing Litecoin treasury operations funded through LTC sales and covered-call premiums.
What this adds to the public comparison set
- Same manager, GSR, but a different client-side exit structure from Upexi / GSR.
- Equity-settled recurring fees rather than a simple cash fee.
- Separate provider warrants layered on top of the recurring AUM fee.
- A ten-year exclusive mandate with ordinary company exit tied to ending the token strategy.
- A formula that translates the remaining term into an explicit termination payment.
Primary public sources
GSR Asset Management Agreement — SEC exhibit
July 22, 2025 Form 8-K — agreement summary
March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q — current agreement disclosure
July 2026 investor presentation — active GSR treasury-management relationship
July 30, 2026 operating update
Related research
Upexi / GSR agreement and exit →
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Public-source factual commercial research only. No legal, fairness, fiduciary, accounting or investment opinion, and no recommendation concerning any provider or transaction.