The international asset supervisor VanEck has filed an S-1 registration assertion with the US Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC) to launch the VanEck JitoSOL exchange-traded fund (ETF). According to the submitting, this fund will maintain solely JitoSOL, the liquid staking token issued by Jito Network.
The submission marks the primary try and register a US exchange-traded fund backed by a liquid staking token, doubtlessly exposing buyers to Solana’s staking yields via a regulated product. JitoSOL represents Solana (SOL) locked with validators whereas offering a transferable token that accrues rewards, a course of generally known as liquid staking.
The product would lengthen VanEck’s enlargement into digital asset funds, following its spot Bitcoin ETF launched in early 2024 and Ether ETF earlier that 12 months. Unlike these autos, the JitoSOL ETF may check the SEC’s stance on staking.
SEC continues to debate staking
The transfer from VanEck comes after Jito Labs and the Jito Foundation co-authored a letter to the SEC on July 31 urging regulators to allow liquid staking tokens like JitoSOL to be included in exchange-traded merchandise, with help from VanEck, Bitwise, Multicoin Capital and the Solana Policy Institute.
In the letter, the teams argued that liquid staking tokens present a safer and extra environment friendly technique to combine staking into exchange-traded merchandise (ETPs), spreading stake throughout validators and lowering operational complexity. They pointed to obtainable SEC steerage indicating that almost all types of staking don’t represent securities transactions, framing liquid staking tokens as in line with present guidelines.
That steerage has are available in two elements. In May, the SEC’s workers issued a assertion saying solo and delegated staking usually fall exterior securities legal guidelines as a result of rewards are set by the protocol moderately than a 3rd social gathering.
In August, the company prolonged the view to liquid staking, describing receipt tokens comparable to JitoSOL as proof of possession moderately than funding contracts — supplied the supplier doesn’t exert discretionary management.
Still, the SEC’s feedback are workers statements moderately than binding guidelines, which means they don’t carry the drive of legislation and could possibly be reinterpreted by the Commission or courts.
The SEC’s posture on staking has advanced significantly from the previous. In February 2023, the company charged crypto change Kraken with providing an unregistered staking program, leading to a $30 million settlement and the closure of its US staking service. Later that 12 months, the company sued Coinbase over related allegations. That case was dismissed in February 2025.
Beyond enforcement actions, the SEC has additionally formed staking coverage via the ETF approval course of. When the company authorized spot Ether ETFs in May 2024, issuers initially proposed the choice to stake Ether (ETH) held by the funds. The SEC required all references to staking to be eliminated earlier than approving.
As a consequence, the Ether ETFs launched final 12 months from issuers together with BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, and VanEck maintain ETH solely and don’t interact in staking.
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