Grayscale Investments has dropped the staking component from its spot Ethereum ETF proposal.
Grayscale Investments has dropped the staking component from its spot Ethereum ETF proposal. They submitted an updated preliminary proxy statement for the Grayscale Ethereum (ETH) Trust on Tuesday, clearly indicating this modification.
Grayscale Drops Staking from Ethereum ETF Plan
The first filing suggested staking for investors through the trust, but it has since eliminated this option. They said in the updated proxy statement that the main goal of Amendment No. 2 was to eliminate Proposal 2. Staking was a part of this idea, but it’s not in the most recent filing.
Grayscale is following suit with other issuers, who have removed staking elements from their Ethereum ETF spot applications. For example, earlier on Tuesday, Fidelity did not include staking rewards in its S-1 registration statement.
James Seyffart, a Bloomberg ETF analyst, predicted its change. Seyffart predicted on X that Grayscale would remove the staking reference from their application to convert $ETHE into an ETH ETF.
In October, they first submitted a Form 19b-4 to NYSE Arca with the intention of turning the Grayscale Ethereum Trust into a spot ether exchange-traded fund.
This comes after they successfully converted the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in January, after a court ruling and SEC approval. The elimination of staking from it’s plan fits into a larger pattern among prospective Ethereum ETF issuers.
The SEC recently asked the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and Nasdaq to amend their spot ETF filings. The SEC’s proactive involvement has sparked conjecture over these financial instruments’ possible clearance.
Cboe and five issuers Fidelity, VanEck, Invesco/Galaxy, Ark/21Shares, and Franklin Templeton published updated 19b-4 filings in response to the SEC’s feedback.
With the deadlines for issuers and exchanges to amend their files drawing near, these revisions are critical. The SEC must also accept the S-1 forms submitted by the issuers before the spot ETFs can go live. VanEck and Cboe’s application, the first of these, closes this Thursday.