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Fidelity, a financial services giant, is seeking approval to invest a portion of the Ether held by its proposed spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) to offer additional income to clients.
In a 19b-4 amendment sent At the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18, Fidelity stated that if the ETF is approved, the fund will stake an undisclosed amount of its assets through one or more trusted staking providers.
The document states: “The Sponsor may, from time to time, stake a portion of the Fund's assets through one or more trusted betting providers, which may include an affiliate of the Sponsor.”
Fidelity did not name any specific participation provider. Several Ether staking solutions are now available, including Lido DAO, RocketPool, and StakeWise. Following the announcement, Lido, the ethereum network's staking protocol, increased by 9% to $2.64 before falling back to $2.32.
Fidelity's decision to file for an ethereum ETF in November placed it among other potential issuers such as BlackRock, Ark Invest and Grayscale, intensifying the race to launch the first ethereum ETF. With the final SEC deadline approaching on May 23 for the eight ETFs submitted by Van Eck, pressure is mounting for their approval.
Analysts, including Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas, currently estimate that the probability of an Ether spot ETF being approved before this deadline is just 35%, citing the lack of precedent signals that were seen. prior to the approval of bitcoin spot ETFs in January.
Meanwhile, Fidelity's Wise Origin bitcoin Fund (FBTC) is already seeing significant success as the fifth most popular ETF, attracting approximately $6.9 billion in investments since its launch in January, the financial giant's foray into ETFs. of ethereum, with the additional layer of staking, promises. to further cement its position as a leading innovator in the digital asset space.