Spot ether exchange-traded funds successfully debuted in the U.S. on Tuesday, but regulators didn't let the ETFs generate income for investors by staking their ETH.
The absence represents a disadvantage over directly holding the cryptocurrency, but issuers are hopeful regulators will eventually allow staking.
Eight newly approved spot ether {{ETH}} exchange-traded funds got off to a busy start following their debut this week, despite lacking a key feature of Ethereum's native token: staking income.
While the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which has existed in non-ETF form for years but just converted into an ETF, has seen about $811 million of outflows, new products from the likes of BlackRock saw almost $800 million deposited in the first two days. Issuers say they're pleased.
This early success wasn't a given, especially after several issuers announced that they would not stake ether for yield, which they had initially planned to do in earlier filings. This was likely due to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission telling them to remove the feature as staking could potentially violate federal securities laws as it constitutes unregistered securities offerings, as the SEC had previously argued in other cases.
With a new administration taking office in January, things could change quickly and issuers remain hopeful that the feature could eventually become part of the products.
That being said, it is not currently "an active discussion," Rob Mitchnick, head of digital assets for BlackRock, said in an interview with CoinDesk. He added that the SEC made its view on that clear.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, did not initially apply to be able to stake in their application but others, including Fidelity and Franklin Templeton, did.
"I certainly would hope that as an industry, we're going to be able to help to educate and provide perspective on how it is that we can bring staking capabilities to investors in these products," said Cynthia Lo Bessette, head of digital asset management at Fidelity. "Staking is a critical component of the Ethereum ecosystem as it is the activity that secures the ecosystem and so, therefore, it's an important part of the investment experience and being able to invest in your ether."
Former President Donald Trump seems to have won over the hearts of many leaders in the crypto industry and is their favored choice in this year's election given his recent endorsement of the space.
"I believe staking within spot ether ETFs is a matter of when, not if," said Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store. "That said, there is no question that politics are intertwined with the timing of the 'when.'"
He added: "Indications are that a Trump administration would be much more crypto-friendly, which could certainly accelerate the timeline of when staking might be allowed. Otherwise, ETF issuers could be left waiting on a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework to be put in place, which would likely take significantly longer."
For Franklin Templeton, who, like Fidelity, was keen on making staking a part of the ETFs, starting without that feature seemed natural and made the overall process of getting the product approved easier.
"The easier path or path of least resistance was clearly to do it as an unstaked version," said Christopher Jense, director of digital asset research for Franklin Templeton's Digital Asset Investment Strategies Group. "It just works better, it's simpler, it's easier, and the execution risk was lower, so I think it's very natural that that's where we started."
If staking will be part of the ETFs in the future, it doesn't seem to be up to the asset managers, but is a question of whether the regulatory landscape in the future will be open to it.
"I think it's very tied into the regulatory clarity that we think will happen over time of whether that will or won't happen," said David Mann, head of ETF product & capital markets for Franklin. "This is the framework we're dealing with today and if it evolves, we'll be ready to evolve with it."
