SEC Delays Decision on Grayscale Ethereum ETF Staking

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to delay its decision on whether Grayscale can permit staking to its Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This means the agency will be taking a longer time to review the proposal and won’t be giving an answer until sometime in July 2025.

SEC Delays Grayscale Ethereum Staking Plan | Source: Sec.gov

Grayscale has two investment products called the Grayscale Ethereum Trust and the Mini Trust. These are both tied to Ethereum. Grayscale wants to upgrade these products by adding staking, which is a way to earn rewards by helping run the Ethereum network. In short, it’s like getting interest for holding ETH (Ethereum).

The decision was supposed to come by April 17. But the SEC pushed the deadline, using its right under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to take up to 90 more days to think things over.. So, now the final decision is pushed back to July.

Grayscale’s idea is pretty simple: let the fund stake ETH and earn passive rewards. But the investment firm made sure to clarify that no investor funds would get mixed up. Staking would only be done by Grayscale (the sponsor), and Coinbase Custody would still hold the ETH as usual. Everything stays clean and separated.

However, the SEC is a bit cautious about this since no U.S. ETF has ever done staking before. It’s not surprising the SEC wants more time to look things over. Moreover, this isn’t the first delay either; other companies that are trying to get creative with crypto ETFs have hit the same wall.

The proposal was originally filed by NYSE Arca on February 14, 2025. It’s one of several companies trying to bring more crypto features into traditional finance. If approved, this could open the door for more crypto ETFs to offer staking and help investors earn extra rewards.