REX Shares is gearing up to launch the first US Solana staking ETF ($SSK).
The Solana staking ETF offers the highly sought-after on-chain staking to generate yield for investors.
If the ETF is approved, this development could set a path for other asset managers to follow suit.
Analysts expect that a launch could be days or even hours away and will usher in a "Crypto ETF Summer."
According to recent reports, ETF provider REX Shares is gearing up to launch the first-ever Solana staking exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States.
Analysts and industry leaders are now on the “all systems go” bandwagon, especially after signs that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has no remaining objections to this filing in particular.
This ETF could represent a major turning point for crypto investment, and is set to bring the much-awaited concept of staking to the ETF market.
On 27 June, REX Shares submitted a filing to the SEC to confirm whether it had fulfilled all the regulatory requirements with its proposed Solana and Ethereum staking ETFs.
Surprisingly, the SEC responded yes without further comments which means that the market now has its first strong signal that the product will be approved soon.
According to ETF analysts including Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas and Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store, this “no-comment” move from the SEC shows that the green light is near.
Balchunas also pointed out that the filing is “totally filled in,” with Geraci noting that the SEC seems “comfortable” with the ETF’s structure.
Here we go
One of the most interesting aspects of this ETF is the strange structure that REX Shares has used to bypass the regulatory process.
Instead of filing under the commonly used 19b-4 process (which still has several pending crypto staking ETF proposals), REX opted for a “’40 Act structure” through a C-corporation business model.
According to Geraci, this strategy was a “regulatory end-around.”
At the same time, it was also a brilliant strategy to jump past any regulatory roadblocks.
The SEC had previously raised issues it had with this type of fund structure under Rule 6C-11 (known as “the ETF rule” ).
However, it appears to have accepted REX’s revised filing, and James Seyffart confirmed that such a structure is “very rare in the ETF space.”
Moreover, Seyffart believes that REX Shares' solution to this regulatory issue that many other asset managers have may have just paved the way for the others.
The REX-Osprey Solana Staking ETF (which will trade under the ticker symbol $SSK) is not just another digital asset fund.
Instead of simply tracking Solana’s market price, it also includes on-chain staking to generate yield for investors.
In regular crypto investing, staking allows users to earn rewards simply by locking up tokens to the blockchain.
However, regulatory issues and custody requirements have made this hard to include in ETF offerings:
Until now, that is.
REX Shares has already begun marketing the fund as “the first-ever staked crypto ETF” in the U.S.
Ongoing marketing means approval soon
The asset management fund even promises investors a “new era of yield-generating crypto exposure.”
This means that if it delivers as promised, this could be the biggest change in how retail and institutional investors interact with proof-of-stake assets like Solana.
Nate Geraci believes this development could set off a domino effect across the ETF space.
“Looks like they believe comments have been resolved,” he said. “Crypto ETF summer commences.”
In essence, if the REX Solana staking ETF launches without regulatory roadblocks, it could birth a new category of ETFs that combine price exposure with income generation.
Competitors still stuck in regulatory limbo will now be rushing to revise their proposals using the same method and according to Eric Balchunas, the launch could be days, if not hours away.
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