Grayscale, a cryptocurrency asset manager, is gearing up to stake a portion of its substantial Ether holdings, which may indicate confidence that US regulators will soon allow staking in exchange-traded products.
Data from Arkham Intelligence revealed that Grayscale transferred over 40,000 Ether (ETH) on Thursday, an action aligned with preparing for staking rewards. Arkham highlighted that if this is verified, Grayscale will become the first US Ethereum ETF sponsor to stake its assets.
Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE) oversees more than 1.06 million ETH, valued at over $4.8 billion. The firm introduced ETHE in 2017 as a private placement vehicle and launched the lower-cost Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) in 2024 through a partial spin-off of ETHE’s assets.
This move follows the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) recent decision to postpone rulings on whether Grayscale’s funds can include ETH staking. Since then, the regulator has offered further clarification, suggesting that certain types of liquid staking might not fall under its authority — potentially paving the way for adoption by regulated funds.
While Grayscale has submitted proposals for staking, the SEC has yet to grant approval — indicating that the company could be preparing for a ruling. Currently, no existing spot Ether ETFs offer staking features.
The transfer tracked by Arkham occurred one day after the SEC approved the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund — a multi-asset crypto ETP that provides exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), Ether, XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). This product enables investors to gain diversified crypto exposure without the need to purchase individual tokens directly.
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ETH staking ETF could be a market game-changer, analysts say
Experts have argued for some time that the approval of staking in US spot Ether ETFs could ignite a fresh wave of institutional demand, allowing investors to earn rewards instead of merely holding the asset passively.
10x Research head Markus Thielen expressed to Cointelegraph in July that staking for Ethereum ETFs could “dramatically reshape the market.”
This discussion emerges as demand for Ether is on the rise. Inflows to spot ETFs have surged this year, while the quantity of ETH held on exchanges slipped to a three-year low in early September — a reduction attributed to corporate treasuries and ETFs absorbing supply.
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