Crypto: Sec Approval Sought For Jitosol Solana-based Liquid Staking Token Etf

The proposal would allow a US exchange to trade shares of a fund holding JitoSOL, representing the first SEC exchange filing for a liquid staking token ETP.

Nasdaq has filed a proposed rule change to list the VanEck JitoSOL ETF, a fund designed to hold the Solana-based liquid staking token JitoSOL.

Liquid staking allows users to stake tokens to help secure a proof-of-stake network while receiving a transferable token in return that represents the staked assets and accrued rewards.

Jito Foundation president Brian Smith told Cointelegraph that if the fund is approved, staking rewards would not be distributed separately but instead reflected in the fund’s net asset value.

Because JitoSOL automatically compounds rewards, each token held by the trust would represent the underlying deposited SOL along with any staking yield accrued on the Solana network.

The exchange submitted the proposal under Nasdaq Rule 5711(d), which governs commodity-based trust shares, seeking approval to list and trade shares of a trust that would hold JitoSOL directly.

Created by the Jito Network, JitoSOL (JTO) is a liquid staking token backed by SOL deposited into a staking pool on the Solana network. It lets holders earn staking rewards through a transferable token without directly running validators or managing onchain staking.

The filing cites the SEC’s prior spot Bitcoin (BTC) and spot Ether (ETH) ETP approval orders, arguing the proposal satisfies fraud, manipulation and surveillance standards and can be approved through “other means” despite the absence of a regulated futures market for JitoSOL.

According to the proposal, the trust would value its shares using the MarketVector JitoSol VWAP Close Index, which is calculated from pricing data contributed by multiple trading platforms, and the trust would permit both cash and in-kind creations and redemptions.

The filing also claims JitoSOL is economically comparable to SOL (SOL), citing correlation data, and says an appropriately structured liquid staking token can be treated as analogous to the underlying asset for purposes of the generic listing standards approved by the SEC in September.

Source: CoinTelegraph