This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n The SEC\u2019s mid-2024 approval of spot ether ETFs was a milestone, for sure. But the agency not allowing those products to stake their holdings left something to be desired.\u00a0<\/p>\n Grayscale today became the first issuer to unlock staking in US ETFs \u2014 for its Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) ETFs. This feature is available for its over-the-counter solana product, too (a trust waiting for the greenlight<\/a> to convert to an ETF).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The SEC\u2019s new generic listing standards<\/a> enable ETP issuers to stake assets within their proof-of-stake based products, a Grayscale spokesperson told me. The firm\u2019s staking policy adheres to this piece of the regulator\u2019s September order<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This footnote clarifies what the SEC means by disclosures related to assets that are \u201csegregated, pledged, hypothecated, encumbered, or otherwise restricted or prevented from being liquidated, sold, transferred or assigned.\u201d<\/p>\n The level of staking in each fund will vary with market conditions \u2014 i.e. protocol unstaking queue times and anticipated redemption activity \u2014\u00a0and be shared on the fund webpages daily, Grayscale notes. The firm warns there\u2019s no guarantee the ETFs\u2019 liquidity sleeves will be sufficient to satisfy all outstanding redemption requests.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t clear which fund issuer could be next to add staking. A couple Grayscale competitors didn\u2019t immediately share details with me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Disclosures aside, why does this matter? It\u2019s yet another unlock set to attract more investors to the crypto space. Grayscale notes that its staking via institutional custodians and validator providers also helps secure underlying protocols and supports long-term network resilience.<\/p>\n \u201cBy [adding staking], you then convert it from a passive exposure vehicle to an income-generating, yield-bearing product,\u201d Twinstake CEO Andrew Gibb said last month during a Blockworks Roundtable<\/a>. \u201cI think that equates it more closely to a comparable traditional product \u2014 like a bond ETF or a dividend-paying equity.\u201d<\/p>\n I remember chatting with CoinFund President Christopher Perkins in the lead-up to last year\u2019s ETH ETF launches. He called them \u201csub-standard\u201d products<\/a> because investors would miss out on the additional yield. Others shared similar feelings.<\/p>\n While there was indeed lukewarm demand for these funds during their first few months on the market (particularly compared to BTC), the category collectively started to attract meaningful net inflows late last year. Inflows spiked more recently in July<\/a> and August, Blockworks Research data shows \u2014 reflecting a big ETH price rally. September not so much<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though a positive development for those seeking ETH exposure in a traditional vehicle, the staking unlock won\u2019t necessarily result in a significant uptick in inflows, said NovaDius Wealth Management president Nate Geraci.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn my view, the lack of a 2-3% yield hasn\u2019t been a major deterrent for investors allocating to the category,\u201d he told me. \u201cThat said, this is still a meaningful milestone \u2014 one that makes spot ether ETFs even more competitive with direct ether exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n And while we\u2019re talking about milestones, crypto investment products globally tallied a record weekly inflow total of $5.95 billion last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe this was due to a delayed response to the FOMC interest rate cut, compounded by very weak employment data, as indicated by Wednesday\u2019s ADP payroll release, and concerns over US government stability following the shutdown,\u201d CoinShares research head James Butterfill wrote in a report<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Solana and XRP products joined the party last week with $707 million and $219 million of inflows, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a snapshot of just the US crypto ETFs, which cracked the $4.5 billion combined weekly inflow mark for just the second time:<\/p>\n The US bitcoin ETFs officially hit $60 billion of net inflows since their January 2024 debuts.<\/p>\n Bitcoin\u2019s price was ~125,400 at 2 p.m. ET Monday \u2014 just below the all-time high it set just hours prior. Ether was at $4,700 \u2014 5% off the record price it set in August. Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a segment from the Forward Guidance newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe. The SEC\u2019s mid-2024 approval of spot ether ETFs was a milestone, for sure. But the agency not allowing those products to stake their holdings left something to be desired.\u00a0 Grayscale today became the first issuer to unlock staking in US ETFs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407288,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[230,225,221,227,226,228,229,60,223,224,222],"class_list":["post-407287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency","tag-brave","tag-coinbase","tag-crypto","tag-decentralised","tag-decentralized","tag-decentralized-exchange","tag-erc-20","tag-featured","tag-meme-coin","tag-robinhood","tag-solana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407289,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407287\/revisions\/407289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/blockworks-co.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/image-16.png?w=1024&h=1024\")
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Last week\u2019s positive price action<\/a> pushed total crypto product AUM to a new high of $254 billion.\u00a0 \u201cUptober\u201d is in full swing<\/a>, I guess. We\u2019re only six days in, though \u2014 and nothing goes up and to the right forever.<\/p>\n