In an interview with The Block at the Token2049 event in Singapore, Andrew Vranjes, senior vice president and head of international operations at Blockdaemon, said that Hong Kong regulators may approve the introduction of staking functionality for Ethereum spot ETFs this year.

Andrew Vranjes said his team is working closely with ETF issuers in Hong Kong to discuss possible staking solutions with local regulators. It said the team has made progress and regulators may approve the staking feature "within a specific structure and scope."

"Let's see how the market develops. There may be a model where accredited investors and above have this option first. It may develop in that direction and gradually advance over time."

Andrew Vranjes explained that he is optimistic about the potential approval because the Blockdaemon team is in "very in-depth conversations" with its customers and regulators, and the two parties have exchanged "multiple documents" with each other.

"That level of rigor is ongoing. We're in the process of moving forward with the details. I think we're getting closer to making that announcement."

While the Hong Kong cryptocurrency spot ETF initially attracted attention, its performance relative to the U.S. market was mediocre, with inflows far below those of its U.S. peers.

According to data from SosoValue, the total trading volume of the three spot Ethereum ETFs in Hong Kong on Monday was only US$390,000, with a net daily inflow of zero, while the nine ETFs in the United States had a trading volume of US$129 million on the day, with a net daily outflow of 950 million dollars. Many in the industry say potential staking features for Ethereum spot ETFs could break the ice and give these products a competitive advantage.

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