The New Staking Milestone: Quiet, Technical, and Easy to Miss
⟁ DeltaSignal Briefing
On October 6, 2025, Grayscale became the first U.S. issuer to add staking to spot crypto ETFs.
Its Ethereum funds (ETHE, ETH) now stake directly, and the Solana Trust (GSOL) has activated staking ahead of its planned uplisting.
This is the plumbing catching up with the thesis we’ve been writing for months: TradFi is absorbing crypto yield.
This is infrastructure taking shape.
🔺 Grayscale is quietly redrawing the line between traditional ETFs and on-chain yield.
Its spot Ethereum and Solana funds no longer just hold coins. They’re earning yield from the networks themselves.
Why this matters
1. The regulatory tone just shifted.
The SEC’s quiet approval here is bigger than it looks.
By allowing staking within an ETF, the regulator is implicitly recognizing staking rewards as infrastructure yield, not as an unregistered security.
The SEC has not issued a formal rule change; acceptance is inferred from non-objection.
That’s a change in legal tone. It means staking can now sit on the same shelf as interest or dividends.
🔺 It moves staking from a gray zone to the regulated system, and that’s what long-term capital needs before it can flow in.
2. Liquidity, locked.
When large funds stake, supply contracts.
More ETH and SOL come off the market, reducing float and tightening liquidity.
That’s healthy for the networks. More stability, more security. But it can also magnify volatility.
🔺 Less liquid float means sharper price reactions when flows move in either direction.
The market will need to relearn how to read “supply shock” in an era where ETFs themselves are staking.
3. The next competition won’t be on fees.
It will be on validator performance.
ETFs have always fought on who could be cheaper. Now, they’ll compete on who can earn more yield.
🔺 Validator uptime, efficiency, and slashing protection will become new forms of alpha inside products once considered passive.
If the yield spread between funds starts to matter, ETF staking performance will show up on Bloomberg terminals right next to expense ratios.
The investor takeaway
This milestone won’t change the price tomorrow.
It changes the language. Staking is being redefined as yield infrastructure.
Once that language takes root, capital follows.
🔺 Grayscale’s move signals a new layer forming under the market — regulated yield, flowing through the same rails as equities.
That’s how a niche crypto mechanism becomes a mainstream asset class.
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⟁ DeltaSignal
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DeltaSignal shows the setup before headlines.
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Good question - when you buy ETHE, you’re not staking yourself. Grayscale does it on the fund’s ETH, using institutional validators. The staking rewards get added back into the trust’s NAV, so your shares quietly earn yield on top of ETH price. It’s how on-chain yield is slipping into the ETF world.
Can you describe the mechanism for staking if someone buys ETHE? Thanks