The filing comes as investor demand for staked crypto ETFs increases.
VanEck submitted an application to the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission for a JitoSOL exchange-traded fund, as investor interest in staked crypto ETFs continues to expand.
The ETF will track the price of JitoSOL, a kind of Solana liquid-staking token, or a tokenized asset that serves as a stand-in for an asset that has already been staked on a network.
Staking refers to the process of locking up cryptocurrencies on a blockchain to secure the network in exchange for rewards, usually in the form of tokens.
“With staff guidance now on record, the compliance runway for LST-based ETFs/ETPs is clear and actionable, and has resulted in the first ETF [composed] of LSTs,” the Jito Foundation said Friday in a blog post.
The JitoSOL fund marks the first proposed spot Solana ETF to receive 100% backing from a liquid-staking token, according to the Jito Foundation’s statement.
The filing comes as regulators have loosened their restrictions on the cryptocurrency, particularly when it comes to the classification of staking-based activities. In May and August, the SEC ruled that both protocol and liquid staking do not qualify as securities transactions — a determination that enables their inclusion in ETFs.
“That clarity opens a compliant path for ETF sponsors to use LSTs,” a Jito Foundation representative said in the post.
The Securities Commission also voted in July to green-light in-kind creations and redemptions for crypto ETFs.
This latest application from VanEck also comes just a few weeks after issuer REX-Osprey integrated staking rewards into its Solana ETF via a partnership with JitoSOL.
Solana was trading at $199 as of writing time, up nearly 10% in the past 24 hours, according to data provider CoinGecko.
