Today, @vaneck_us filed an S-1 for a @jito_sol ETF.
Why is this important?
A JitoSOL ETF offers the highest possible yield for investors, as 100% of the fund earns staking rewards with the lowest fees. The ETF can be created and redeemed in-kind, so redemptions can be…
— Thomas Uhm (@ThomasUhm) August 22, 2025
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Asset manager VanEck has filed to launch a staked solana exchange-traded fund (ETF), signaling continued interest in bringing blockchain-native yield-bearing assets to traditional investment rails.
The application, submitted Friday as an S-1 registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is the first of two filings required to list the fund. If approved, the ETF would hold JitoSOL, a liquid staking token native to the Solana blockchain. JitoSOL reflects ownership of SOL tokens that have been staked and also accrues the staking rewards earned by those tokens.
Unlike traditional ETFs, this product would not just track the price of SOL but also the income generated by staking — effectively baking Solana’s yield into a publicly traded product.
The SEC has been in ongoing discussions with ETF providers, including VanEck, about whether staking components can be integrated into existing and proposed crypto investment funds.
Speaking at an industry panel in Jackson Hole earlier this week, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said the Commission is looking to clear regulatory bottlenecks that slow innovation.
“There’s a lot of spring cleaning that needs to be done at the SEC,” he said. “We cannot have things so abstruse that lawyers can’t give opinions to clients.”
Atkins said the agency’s future rules should be flexible and designed to evolve. He added that the SEC wants to continue its legacy of adapting to new technologies, hinting at a more open stance toward crypto asset products like liquid staking ETFs.
VanEck joins a number of asset managers looking to launch a staked solana fund, including Fidelity, Grayscale and Franklin Templeton.
On Aug. 18, 2025, ETF and mutual fund manager VanEck released a new report studying Bitcoin price trends between mid-July and mid-August. VanEck analyst Nathan Frankovitz and Head of Digital Assets Research Matthew Sigel predict that BTC will reach $180,000 by the end of the year, while noting discrepancies in Bitcoin mining companies’ market performance and declining mNAV of Digital Asset Treasuries.
Summary
On Aug. 13, 2025, Bitcoin reached a new record-breaking price. While it was only several hundred dollars above July’s peak price, VanEck notes that the signals coming from the Bitcoin futures markets were more bullish. The CME basis funding rates reached 9%, the highest figure in six months.
The options market saw a notable increase in the call/put ratio, which reached 3.21x, signaling the growing demand for BTC. According to VanEck, 3.21x is the highest call/put rate since June 2024. Call premiums reached $792 million, which is a 37% rise compared to the previous 30-day period.
One of the factors shaping the uptrend was growing demand from corporations. According to VanEck, in July, Exchange-traded products (mostly ETFs) and DATs acquired 54,000 BTC and 72,000 BTC, respectively. In the three months of 2025 Q2, DATs purchased only 131,355 BTC, which indicates July’s increase in buying pressure coming from digital asset treasuries.
For the same crypto asset, which would you rather own?
— VanEck (@vaneck_us) August 13, 2025
VanEck named Ethereum’s popularity spike as the main reason for the decline in Bitcoin’s market dominance from 64.5% to 59.7%. Bitcoin network transactions reached 12.9 million, which is the highest rate since November 2024. Median fees dropped by 13%.
The graph attached to the VanEck report showcases a spike in total transfer volume. It reached $77,727,657,201, making a 34% increase compared to the previous 30-day period or a 60% change over 365 days.
In August, mining hashrate reached a record-high rate of 902 EH/s. The revenue per EH/s is $59,400, the highest in eight months. The volume of BTC sent by miners to exchanges has nearly doubled since August 2024, but grew only 16% compared to mid-July of this year.
As for mining companies’ equities, the results are split. Applied Digital Corporation’s equity (APLD) is up 54%, Bitfarms (BITF) is up 16%, while most of their competitors saw growth below 10% or dropped in price. VanEck names a 22% drop in Cipher Mining Inc.’s stock (CIFR) price and a 4% decline in the 13-mining-company index tracked by the report authors. In August, U.S.-based mining operations reached a record share of 31%.
VanEck evaluated the amount of Bitcoin held on public treasury companies’ balance sheets at 951,000. The authors of the report point to the decline in DATs’ stock performance. They point out that in July, the mNAVs of these companies have been going down.
Saylor once said he’d never issue below 2.5x mNAV.
Now, he’s changed course.
He’s signaling a willingness to sell $MSTR even under that threshold.
A real risk of dilution is now on the table.
— Oz Sultan (@OzForNY) August 19, 2025
It means that for these companies, the share of net asset value declines relative to their liabilities. VanEck gives three examples: mNAVs are down for MSTR (-16%), for MTPLF (-62%), and for SMLR (-12%). As Bitcoin volatility settles, it becomes harder for DATs to issue convertible debt to acquire more BTC.
Another notable trend is the 43% 30-day growth of ordinals minted on the Bitcoin blockchain. The total amount of ordinals minted in 30 days amounts to 109,779. Compared to August of 2024, this amount has grown by 120%.
This surge in minting Bitcoin blockchain-based images and other non-monetary data reflects the ongoing debate over the idea of removing the 83-byte-per-block limit for arbitrary information. The implementation removing the limit will come into effect for Bitcoin Core nodes in October, allowing for more ordinals per block, which can possibly slow down monetary transactions.
Looking at the near future, VanEck points to the possibility of a volatility spike, which in turn can amplify price swings via dealer hedging. VanEck expects a further decline in DATs’ mNAVs as they will have limited ability to raise capital due to a long period of low volatility. While the report authors provide both bearish and bullish scenarios, they claim that by year-end, Bitcoin will reach $180,000.
In December 2024, Matt Sigel was predicting that Bitcoin would reach $180,000 in the first quarter of 2025 before going through a 30% correction. In fact, the Q1 peak was well below $110,000. April saw a short-term 25% drop. Given that the current Bitcoin price is much higher than the December 2024 price, the $180,000 bet is considerably less bullish.