The competition to launch the first U.S. Solana (SOL) Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is intensifying, with multiple asset managers, including Canary Capital, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, Fidelity, Grayscale, CoinShares, and Bitwise, submitting revised S-1 registration statements to the SEC.
These updated filings show that a continuous dialogue is happening between asset managers and regulators. The filings contain significant details on key aspects such as staking strategies, fee structures, and redemption mechanisms. For example, Grayscale’s proposal mentions a 2.5% fee to be paid in SOL tokens, while others specify how investors could convert ETF shares directly into Solana.
A notable update from Canary Capital’s filing is the designation of Marinade Select as the exclusive staking provider for its proposed ETF, making it the first U.S. ETF to outline a clear, institutional-grade staking framework. The majority of the ETF’s SOL holdings would be staked with Marinade for at least two years, with rewards auto-compounded to increase the fund’s net asset value.
The filings also address transparency and risk. They clarify that assets will be held in a mix of hot and cold wallets, with private keys managed exclusively by the custodian. The filings also include detailed discussions of risks like validator failures, network downtime, and slashing.
The push for a Solana ETF suggests that the cryptocurrency is increasingly seen as a legitimate, institutional-grade product. Approval of a Solana ETF would allow investors to gain regulated exposure to the asset, potentially with a yield-generating component from staking, and could influence the future of crypto ETFs in the U.S.
August 2025, Cryptoniteuae
