21Shares Aims to Introduce SEI ETF Offering Staking Yields for US Investors

The asset management firm 21Shares has put forth a filing with the SEC to establish an exchange-traded fund that tracks the primary token of the Sei blockchain.

The proposed 21Shares SEI ETF aims to give investors exposure to SEI while enabling potential yield through staking rewards, as outlined in a registration statement submitted on Thursday.

After the successful launches of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in 2024, managers are now focusing on smaller digital assets, such as Solana, Dogecoin, XRP, and other altcoins under a pro-crypto administration.

The primary aim of the Trust is “to track the performance of SEI,” with an additional goal of generating “rewards from staking part of the Trust’s SEI,” according to the filing.

Krishnendu Chatterjee, CEO and co-founder of A2ZCryptoInvestment, mentioned to Decrypt that “it’s quite likely the 21Shares SEI ETF will gain approval and become available alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.”

He further noted, “The 21Shares SEI ETF represents progress toward wider adoption of regulated alternative investments (including staking incentives).”

However, the prospectus reveals that 21Shares has yet to determine if staking can be offered under a public trust structure.

The Trust plans to utilize Coinbase Custody Trust Company as the main custodian for its SEI holdings, with Coinbase Inc. acting as the primary broker for trading activities, as noted in the filing.

This development supports Canary Capital’s earlier filing for the initial SEI ETF application in May, which also highlights similar staking objectives.

Numerous crypto ETF applications are currently under consideration and are facing SEC decision deadlines in October, with extended review periods for various spot XRP funds from multiple issuers and proposals for Solana ETFs, among others.

Market experts generally anticipate a wave of approvals starting in October, following established listing criteria.

“In addition to Digital Asset Treasury Companies, ETFs are crucial for institutional exposure to a new asset class, which is becoming the new standard,” Chatterjee expressed, highlighting that “XRP, Solana, and AVAX ETFs possess a significant likelihood of approval by the end of the year, even if not by October.”

SEI is currently ranked 74th in the crypto market by market cap, valued at roughly $1.82 billion.

The token is trading around $0.30 after recent price movements, based on data from CoinGecko, although it remains approximately 73.7% below its all-time high of $1.14 reached in March 2024.