Figment, Apex Introduces Staking Solutions for Investors

Figment Europe and Apex Group have introduced staking Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) for Ethereum and Solana on the SIX Swiss Exchanges.

The staking Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) for Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) will be introduced on the SIX Swiss Exchange through Issuance by Figment Europe, a provider of staking infrastructure services, and Apex Group, a provider of financial services. March 12 is when Swiss AG is set to debut.

Institutional investors can easily obtain staking rewards with the use of Figment’s Ethereum Plus Staking Rewards (ETHF) and Figment Solana Plus Staking Rewards (SOLF) products. These solutions allow interaction through traditional brokers or banks inside a recognizable ETP framework.

In recent months, ETH and SOL have seen a meteoric rise in popularity and interest. But institutions still find it difficult to purchase cryptocurrency and stake it directly. According to Josh Deems, the Institutional Business Development Lead of Figment, the ETPs will help make staking rewards more accessible to a wider audience.

To facilitate easier institutional adoption of proof-of-stake (PoS) assets, Ethereum and Solana have developed staking ETPs. The product guarantees returns to investors by utilizing an ETP structure, which allows for full collateralization and over 50% staking use. By taking this route, institutions can store this asset class safely in an ETP without having to pay Ethereum or Solana validators directly.

In addition to providing access to the underlying cryptocurrency assets, the ETPs’ staking incentives include maximal extractable value (MEV), or the most that validators can earn from producing blocks and potentially share with stakers.

Issuance.Swiss, a solution for the issuance of financial products offered by Apex Fund Services, will oversee the distribution of Figment’s ETP. A 1.5% management fee applies to both Figment ETPs. Given this, the product is designed to offer a competitive rewards rate with the expectation that the issuer will stake 50% or more of the underlying asset and reinvest it into the ETP.

The goal of Figment is to make it the go-to staking solution for institutions who manage bitcoin assets by making it easy to access through exchanges, custodians, and portfolio management platforms. At the moment, the business is concentrating on improving its ETPs, with a particular eye toward catering to Swiss institutions’ needs for staking services.

Institutional Investors’ Interest in Cryptocurrencies is on the Rise

There has been a lot of buzz about the potential for spot Ethereum ETFs to follow the successful debut of Bitcoin ETFs in the US earlier this year. A number of asset management firms have recently applied to be included in the Ethereum ETF. These firms include Franklin Templeton, BlackRock, and Fidelity. The chances of receiving permission this year from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are, however, widely debated.

Spot Ethereum ETFs may go through the same approval procedure as futures and futures ETFs offered by CME, which were approved before Bitcoin spot ETFs in the US. Nevertheless, it seems that there is little hope for the approval of spot ETFs for Solana or any other cryptocurrency assets in the immediate future.

Ark Invest CEO and CIO Cathie Wood recently expressed doubt that the SEC will approve spot ETFs for cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin and Ethereum. “It would be surprising if any currency other than Bitcoin and Ethereum received SEC approval,” she said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

While there are differing viewpoints and skepticism about the further acceptance of other spot cryptocurrency ETFs, Figment has just introduced Ethereum and Solana staking ETPs as a strategic step to simplify institutional access to staking rewards.