Solana infrastructure supplier Jito Labs, asset managers VanEck and Bitwise and two different stakeholders are appealing to the US Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) to permit liquid staking for Solana exchange-traded merchandise (ETPs).
Liquid staking is a type of allocating tokens to a validator whereas receiving a by-product token in return, successfully which means the staked tokens aren’t “locked up.” Liquid staked tokens (LSTs) could be traded, utilized in decentralized finance and even loaned. Nevertheless, the method introduces further dangers not seen in conventional staking processes.
Teams interesting to the SEC, together with the Solana Coverage Institute and Multicoin Capital Administration, argue that liquid staking might enhance capital effectivity by permitting ETP issuers to keep away from pressured rebalancing.
“If issuers are pressured to restrict staking to a set proportion of property, giant creations and redemptions would power rebalancing, thereby rising the prices of working the ETP and introducing potential monitoring error,” the letter reads. “LSTs might be used to rebalance shortly in that state of affairs and will even be delivered or acquired in-kind by [authorized participants]…”
Extra advantages cited within the letter embrace elevated safety to the community, extra product choices for traders and extra income for ETP issuers. At the least 9 Solana (SOL) ETPs are presently awaiting a call from the SEC.
The letter doesn’t cowl the dangers of liquid staking, amongst them being sensible contract bugs or vulnerabilities, depegging occasions and slashing dangers. The SEC has not issued formal steering on liquid staking, although it has mentioned conventional staking may not constitute a securities offering if it’s instantly tied to a consensus course of.
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Crypto ETP staking a hot-button concern in 2025
Solana isn’t the one cryptocurrency advocates need to see staked in ETPs. Issuers of Ether (ETH) funds are additionally looking for approval for staking options.
On July 17, Nasdaq filed an application with the SEC to permit staking in BlackRock’s iShares Ether ETF. The inventory change filed similar applications for Grayscale on February.
Some analysts are additionally bullish on the prospect, saying that including staking to Ether ETFs might allow for an influx of institutional capital into these funds.
In March 2025, BlackRock’s head of digital property, Robbie Mitchnick, mentioned that whereas the agency’s Ether ETF has been profitable, it has been “less perfect” without staking.
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