Grayscale Investments became the first American asset manager to integrate staking into Spot Crypto Exchange-Traded products.
In a statement on October 6th, the company announced that staking will be available for the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF (ETH) and Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE).
The move allows holders of both products to acquire staking rewards directly within the ETF, either as a return on reinvestment or as cash payments.
Grayscale said the dual options model is designed to attract investors with a variety of goals, including the direct income of those seeking long-term compounding and liquidity for those who prefer growth.
The company has also enabled the staking of grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL). Once GSOL receives regulatory approval on the Uplist as a Spot Exchange Trade product, it will rank as the first Solana-based ETPS in the US to support staking.
Regulatory environment
Crypto Staking allows participants to lock tokens to validate transactions and earn rewards. However, regulatory uncertainty has prevented US agencies from fully participating for years.
Under former SEC chair Gary Gensler, the agency argued that some staking services were similar to unregistered securities offerings.
As a result, ETF publishers responded by removing staking options from their products to minimize compliance risk.
However, its position has been eased. Over the past year, the SEC has made it clear that it does not automatically configure securities offerings when liquid staking is properly configured.
This shift, combined with a friendly tone towards crypto under the Trump administration, encourages asset managers like Grayscale to reintroduce staking within regulated investment structures.
Market impact
Grayscale’s move could reshape competition in the Ethereum ETF market, where investors are gaining surge in interest.
A staking yield of around 3.2% averages allows issuers to offset operating costs by staking a portion of their assets, potentially reducing management fees that could reach 2.5%. These low fees could make ETH ETFs more competitive and increase recruitment among institutional clients.
Furthermore, this shift could restructure Ethereum’s staking ecosystem by leading more institutional capital to staking pools and liquidity platforms. Some publishers are looking for liquid staking solutions such as Lido’s Steth to increase redemption flexibility.
At the time of reporting, around 36 million ETH, about 30% of Ethereum’s total supply, is betting, with Lido controlling 23% of its market.
