It would give institutional investors a regulated avenue to access staking returns.
The fund would not need idle ETH for redemptions, optimizing management and liquidity.
The VanEck company filed a registration application with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a stETH Spot Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). This is the liquid ether (ETH) staking token of the Lido protocol. If approved, it would be the first product of its kind on the market.
The fund, called ‘VanEck Lido Staked ETH ETF’, is designed to offer investors regulated exposure to Ethereum staking returns.
For ETF issuers, using a liquid asset like stETH optimizes management by eliminating the need to hold idle ETH to process redemptions.
This ETF would follow the price movement of the stETH token, which accumulates staking returns.
Kean Gilbert of the Lido Foundation noted that The request “demonstrates the growing recognition that liquid staking is an essential part of the Ethereum infrastructure.”
The Lido protocol, which has a total value locked of almost $40 billion, benefits from audited smart contracts and deep liquidity in the secondary market.
This initiative comes after a recent clarification from the SEC, which indicated that Liquid staking activities do not constitute securities transactions (securities), as CriptoNoticias reported in August.