The worldwide asset supervisor VanEck has filed an S-1 registration assertion with the US Securities and Trade Fee(SEC) to launch the VanEck JitoSOL exchange-traded fund (ETF). In line with the submitting, this fund will maintain solely JitoSOL, the liquid staking token issued by Jito Community.
The submission marks the primary try to 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 prolong VanEck’s growth into digital asset funds, following its spot Bitcoin ETF launched in early 2024 and Ether ETF earlier that 12 months. Not like these automobiles, the JitoSOL ETF may take a look at the SEC’s stance on staking.
SEC continues to debate staking
The transfer from VanEck comes after Jito Labs and the Jito Basis 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 Coverage Institute.
Within the letter, the teams argued that liquid staking tokens present a safer and extra environment friendly method to combine staking into exchange-traded merchandise (ETPs), spreading stake throughout validators and decreasing operational complexity. They pointed to obtainable SEC steering indicating that almost all types of staking don’t represent securities transactions, framing liquid staking tokens as per present guidelines.
That steering has are available two elements. In Could, the SEC’s workers issued an announcement saying solo and delegated staking usually fall outdoors securities legal guidelines as a result of rewards are set by the protocol quite than a 3rd get together.
In August, the company prolonged the view to liquid staking, describing receipt tokens comparable to JitoSOL as proof of possession quite than funding contracts — supplied the supplier doesn’t exert discretionary management.
Nonetheless, the SEC’s feedback are workers statements quite than binding guidelines, which means they don’t carry the power of legislation and might be reinterpreted by the Fee or courts.
The SEC’s posture on staking has developed significantly from the previous. In February 2023, the company charged crypto trade 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 comparable allegations. That case was dismissed in February 2025.
Past enforcement actions, the SEC has additionally formed staking coverage via the ETF approval course of. When the company authorized spot Ether ETFs in Could 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.
Because of this, the Ether ETFs launched final 12 months from issuers together with BlackRock, Constancy, Grayscale, and VanEck maintain ETH solely and don’t have interaction in staking.
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