Key Highlights
- Fidelity Investments advanced its own planned Solana ETF by filing a major amendment with the SEC
- This comes after the successful launch of the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, which set $70 million in second-day inflows and demonstrated massive institutional demand
- After the SEC cleared the road for staking tokens by stating that certain liquid staking tokens are not securities
Fidelity Investments has moved closer to launching a Solana Exchange-traded fund in the United States as it submitted an updated S-1 registration to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
(Source: sec.gov)
This fourth amendment to its filing provides new specifics on how the fund would operate. A key detail in the plan, upon its filing, provides new specifics on how the fund would operate.
A key detail is the plan to stake almost 100% of the fund’s Solana holdings. This process involves delegating the cryptocurrency to a network of secure validators to help run the blockchain network, which would generate an estimated annual yield of around 7% for investors.
The filing also outlines the creation of a custom pricing index and confirms that only a small amount of SOL will be kept liquid to manage daily fund activities.
SEC’s Approval Sparks Wave of Solana ETF Activity
Fidelity’s move is part of a larger coordinated push by asset managers. Other firms, including VanEck and Grayscale, have also recently updated their own Solana ETF proposals to include staking. This flurry of activity shows that the SEC’s corporate finance division is actively engaging with these applications.
The process for approval was unexpectedly smoothed by a temporary U.S. government shutdown in early October.
This regulatory development triggered an automatic approval process for certain pending ETFs under existing rules, allowing non-Bitcoin crypto funds to move forward without a final vote from the full commission. This regulatory shift set the stage for a major market event the very next day.
Bitwise Launches Record-Breaking Solana ETF
The major development took place on October 28, with the successful launch of the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF on the New York Stock Exchange, which is the first Solana spot ETF. The fund, which directly holds and stakes Solana, saw enormous demand on its first day.
It attracted $69.5 million in net inflows, making it the strongest debut for any new ETF in 2025. Trading volume was exceptionally high, surpassing $56 million in just the first 4 hours. By the end of the day, the fund’s total assets had surged past $289 million.
The Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise called it the most successful exchange-traded product launch in history when compared to the size of its underlying market.
The following day, Grayscale converted its existing Solana trust into an ETF, bringing total institutional Solana exposure through listed products to over $1.4 billion.
SEC’s Crucial Statement on Staking Tokens
Major banks project that $3 billion to $4 billion could flow into Solana ETFs over the next year. A pivotal ruling from the SEC in August 2025 made this entire movement possible. The regulator declared that liquid staking tokens, which are receipts representing staked assets, are not considered securities.
“It is the Division’s view that “Liquid Staking Activities” (as defined below) in connection with Protocol Staking do not involve the offer and sale of securities within the meaning of Section 2(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) or Section 3(a)(10) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”),” stated in the official press release.
This decision removed a major legal hurdle, allowing ETFs to use these tokens to manage liquidity without facing regulatory issues. The impact is already being felt across the ecosystem, with the percentage of staked SOL and the total value locked in its decentralized finance applications surging to new highs.
The price of SOL reacted positively, as it surged above $200 with its market capitalization reaching $107.45 billion. At the time of writing, SOL is trading at around $195 with a small spike of 0.34%.
