Institutions Back SEC Approval for Solana ETF Liquid Staking

Jito Labs, VanEck, Bitwise, the Solana Policy Institute and Multicoin Capital petitioned the SEC to allow liquid staking in Solana ETFs. Liquid staking lets holders delegate SOL to validators while receiving derivative tokens, removing lock-ups and avoiding forced rebalances during large flows. Supporters say liquid staking in Solana ETF boosts capital efficiency, streamlines creations and redemptions, enhances network security and adds revenue streams. At least nine Solana ETF applications are pending SEC approval. The petition omits risks such as smart contract bugs, de-peg events and slashing. The SEC has no formal guidance on liquid staking but hinted that direct staking tied to consensus may not be a security. Ethereum ETF issuers are pursuing similar approval: Nasdaq filed to allow BlackRock’s iShares ETH ETF to stake, after Grayscale’s earlier request. Analysts expect staking features to draw more institutional capital, noting non-staking ETFs are “slightly imperfect.”