Grayscale to pay quarterly cash from ETH, SOL staking

Grayscale will amend the trust agreements for the Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE) and the Grayscale Solana Staking ETF (GSOL) to convert ETH and SOL staking rewards into cash at least quarterly and distribute the net proceeds to shareholders. The changes are described in Form 8-K filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that target adoption around Aug. 7.

Under the proposed amendments, each trust would routinely sell staking rewards, convert the proceeds to U.S. dollars no less often than quarterly and pay the net amounts to holders of the broker-traded funds. Fund documents will be updated to explain how the payouts work, and shareholders will receive a 20-day notice before the amendments take effect.

The filings present the change as a way to provide recurring access to yield from the underlying assets through broker-held products, without requiring investors to hold tokens, select validators or run staking infrastructure themselves.

Distribution amounts will vary. The filings state payouts will depend on the amount of staking rewards generated during each period and any expenses the trusts deduct before distributing proceeds. Each trust may deduct costs not borne by Grayscale, which could include a portion of staking rewards paid to the sponsor for arranging and facilitating staking activities. The filings do not set a fixed distribution amount or guarantee identical payouts from quarter to quarter, and they note that rewards can change with the assets staked and network conditions.

Grayscale made its first ETHE staking distribution on Jan. 5, paying shareholders roughly $0.08 per share from the sale of rewards. The firm enabled staking for both its ETH and SOL products on Oct. 6, 2025. As of the most recent fund pages, ETHE held about $1.22 billion in net assets and GSOL about $101.13 million. The funds listed gross staking reward rates of 2.67% for the Ethereum fund and 6.10% for the Solana fund as of July 17.

The filings state the amendments are intended to align the funds with Internal Revenue Service guidance that allows them to earn staking rewards without changing their current tax treatment. The documents note the amendments should not materially harm shareholders while also highlighting uncertainty in reward levels and the potential for fees and sponsor allocations to affect net distributions.