The cryptocurrency market is witnessing a significant development as the Cboe exchange has approached the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with a request to permit staking in various spot ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This proposal has contributed to a notable 2% increase in the price of ether tokens over the past 24 hours.
When these funds were initially launched in July, multiple issuers had included staking as part of their applications. However, the SEC mandated the removal of this feature, limiting the potential for these funds as the Commission had not been in favor of staking at that time.
Cboe, which is allied with five issuers of ether ETFs—namely Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and Invesco/Galaxy—recently filed amended 19b-4 documents for the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) and the Franklin Ethereum ETF (EZET), seeking to reintroduce staking.
This request arrives in a transformative era for the SEC, following the departure of former chair Gary Gensler, who resigned shortly before the inauguration of crypto-friendly President Donald Trump in January. Trump’s nominee to lead the SEC, Paul Atkins, has yet to undergo a confirmation vote in the Senate, with Commissioner Mark Uyeda currently acting as chair. Under Uyeda’s guidance, the SEC has shown a more favorable stance towards various crypto-related ETF applications, increasing optimism that staking may receive a positive evaluation from the Commissioners.
James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, expressed confidence in the potential approval of Cboe’s request. “There are still aspects to be clarified, but we anticipate that the SEC will permit staking in ETFs this year,” he remarked.
In addition to the move towards staking, numerous companies are attempting to launch ETF products encompassing a wide range of digital assets. Recently, new Delaware-based companies have been established for Sui (SUI) and Aptos (APT), while the SEC is actively reviewing several applications for Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP), among other assets.
This burgeoning interest in staking and the broad sweep of ETF applications highlights an evolving regulatory environment that could reshape the future of digital asset investment. Stakeholders and enthusiasts alike will be closely monitoring the SEC’s actions in the coming months.
