Grayscale Files Prospectus for Solana ETF With SEC, Removes Staking

Crypto asset manager Grayscale filed a registration statement for its Grayscale Solana Trust (GSOL) on Friday, aiming to turn the product into an exchange-traded fund on NYSE Arca.

The move underscores Grayscale’s continued push to broaden inventors’ access to crypto on Wall Street, following the submission of a so-called 19b-4 for its Solana trust in December.

Mirroring their approach to spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, which gained approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last year, asset managers hope to offer additional crypto products that would allow investors to gain exposure to altcoins using a brokerage account.

Solana is among the most likely candidates to win a regulatory green light, analysts say, pointing to the SEC’s new, more crypto friendly leadership and Solana’s nascent but regulated futures market in the U.S. 

The Grayscale Solana Trust, if converted into an ETF, would not participate in the process of staking funds held in receipt, according to the registration statement filed on Friday.

“No action will be taken pursuant to which any portion of the Trust’s SOL becomes subject to the Solana proof-of-stake validation or is used to earn additional SOL,” the filing said.

Staking refers to the process in which a user can earn rewards by locking up funds, in this case on Solana, and participating in the process of validating transactions. Overall, that rewards investors for helping keep the network secure.

When the SEC approved spot Ethereum ETFs last year, Grayscale was among several asset managers that had removed staking language from applications prior to the SEC’s green light. Aside from Grayscale, Fidelity and Ark Invest/21 Shares clipped similar sections.

At the time,  ETF hopefuls removed staking to address the then more stringent SEC concerns. Under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, the regulator believed proof-of-stake networks might be securities.

Grayscale’s filing comes a day after the SEC recognized Fidelity’s application for a spot Solana ETF, one of several crypto applications awaiting review on the regulator’s desk.

Solana was recently changing hands around $114.50 on Friday, showing a 0.4% decrease over the past day, according to the crypto data provider CoinGecko. On Thursday, amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war, its price fell to a 13-month low.

Edited by James Rubin