Grayscale files S-1 for spot Solana ETF with SEC, staking excluded

Grayscale has filed Form S-1 with the SEC to launch a spot Solana ETF.

It comes after NYSE Arca submitted a 19b-4 application to the SEC, proposing to convert the Grayscale Solana Trust into an exchange-traded product. The SEC formally acknowledged the filing on February 6.

S-1 is the formal registration statement required to offer and trade shares of Grayscale’s proposed fund under the Securities Act. The filing, dated April 4, reveals the firm plans to list the ETF—initially named Grayscale Solana Trust ($SOL)—on the NYSE Arca exchange. Once approved, the trust will be renamed Grayscale Solana Trust ETF.

The prospective ETF would hold Solana’s $SOL tokens and aims to track $SOL’s price through the CoinDesk Solana Price Index (SLX). Coinbase will serve as the prime broker and custodian, while Bank of New York Mellon will act as a transfer agent and administrator.

The filing indicates that the trust will initially only accept cash orders for the creation and redemption of shares, requiring authorized participants to use liquidity providers to acquire or sell the underlying $SOL. In-kind creation and redemption may be added later, pending regulatory approval.

The trust will not participate in Solana staking or handle any $SOL forks or airdrops. Grayscale will charge a management fee, taken in $SOL, at an undisclosed annual rate based on net asset value.

As of April 3, $SOL had a market value of $59 billion and was the seventh largest digital asset by market cap, with approximately 514 million coins in circulation and $4.7 billion in 24-hour trading volume, per CoinGecko.