Nasdaq has filed a proposed rule change to listing the VanEck JitoSOL ETF, a fund designed to carry the Solana-based liquid staking token JitoSOL.
Liquid staking permits customers to stake tokens to assist safe a proof-of-stake community whereas receiving a transferable token in return that represents the staked property and accrued rewards.
Jito Basis president Brian Smith advised Cointelegraph that if the fund is authorized, staking rewards wouldn’t be distributed individually however as a substitute mirrored within the fund’s web asset worth.
As a result of JitoSOL routinely compounds rewards, every token held by the belief would symbolize the underlying deposited SOL together with any staking yield accrued on the Solana community.
The alternate submitted the proposal beneath Nasdaq Rule 5711(d), which governs commodity-based belief shares, in search of approval to listing and commerce shares of a belief that might maintain JitoSOL instantly.
Created by the Jito Community, JitoSOL (JTO) is a liquid staking token backed by SOL deposited right into a staking pool on the Solana community. It lets holders earn staking rewards by way of a transferable token with out instantly working validators or managing onchain staking.
The submitting cites the SEC’s prior spot Bitcoin (BTC) and spot Ether (ETH) ETP approval orders, arguing the proposal satisfies fraud, manipulation and surveillance requirements and may be authorized by way of “different means” regardless of the absence of a regulated futures marketplace for JitoSOL.
In line with the proposal, the belief would worth its shares utilizing the MarketVector JitoSol VWAP Shut Index, which is calculated from pricing knowledge contributed by a number of buying and selling platforms, and the belief would allow each money and in-kind creations and redemptions.
The submitting additionally claims JitoSOL is economically akin to SOL (SOL), citing correlation knowledge, and says an appropriately structured liquid staking token may be handled as analogous to the underlying asset for functions of the generic itemizing requirements authorized by the SEC in September.
Beneath the SEC’s overview course of, the company has 45 days from Federal Register publication to approve or disapprove the proposal, which may be prolonged to 90 days.
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Staking publicity exists, however not liquid staking ETFs
Whereas the VanEck JitoSOL ETF has reached the SEC’s alternate overview stage, no liquid staking token ETF of this kind is at present buying and selling in america. There are, nevertheless, present funds that present regulated publicity to staking economics.
One of many earliest US ETFs to provide direct staking publicity was the REX-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF (SSK), which started buying and selling on July 2, and combines spot Solana worth publicity with onchain staking rewards distributed to shareholders.
In September, the corporate launched the REX-Osprey ETH + Staking ETF (ESK), providing spot Ether publicity alongside month-to-month payouts tied to staking yield.
A couple of month later, Grayscale expanded staking throughout its exchange-traded lineup, including staking publicity to the Grayscale Ethereum Mini Belief ETF and Grayscale Ethereum Belief ETF (ETHE). The corporate additionally enabled staking for the Grayscale Solana Belief (GSOL), which is in search of regulatory approval to uplist as an ETP.
Whereas the SEC’s Division of Company Finance stated in Might that sure protocol staking actions typically don’t contain the provide or sale of securities beneath federal legislation, and in August issued comparable workers steering on liquid staking and staking receipt tokens, the statements will not be formal rulemaking and don’t routinely approve particular merchandise.
In Europe, 21Shares launched a Jito-staked Solana exchange-traded product in January, offering listed publicity to SOL with staking built-in into the construction.
Jito’s whole worth locked (TVL) stands at round $1.1 billion, after peaking above $3.0 billion in 2025 earlier than retracing into early 2026, in line with DefiLlama knowledge.
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