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Historic Dividend: Grayscale has begun distributing $0.083178 per share to holders of its Ethereum Staking ETF, the first time a U.S. crypto ETF has passed rewards directly to investors.
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First-Mover Status: The payout covers rewards earned between Oct 6 and Dec 31, 2025, following Grayscale's pivot to staking-enabled products.
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Market Impact: Shares of the ETF traded ex-dividend for the first time on January 6, 2026, as the fund moved to a yield-bearing structure.
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SOL Following: Grayscale’s Solana Staking ETF (GSOL) is currently 100% staked and targeting similar distribution milestones.
A Historic Payout for the ETP Market
In what CEO Peter Mintzberg calls a "landmark moment" for digital assets, Grayscale has officially begun distributing staking rewards directly to shareholders of its Ethereum Staking ETF. This marks the first time a U.S. spot crypto ETF has functioned like a dividend-paying stock, passing through network rewards earned between October and December 2025. Shareholders of record received $0.083178 per share, reflecting a successful integration of crypto-native yield into the traditional exchange-traded product (ETP) wrapper.
The Evolution of the Ethereum Wrapper
Grayscale’s move is a strategic response to the shifting regulatory landscape under the current U.S. administration. By rebranding its funds to include "Staking" in the name and enabling reward distributions, Grayscale is distinguishing itself from traditional spot ETFs that only track price. Other firms, including 21Shares and Rex Shares, have followed suit with their own staking-enabled products for assets like Solana and XRP. This distribution officially cements Ethereum's place as a "yield-bearing" institutional asset, forcing other major issuers to decide whether they will also enable staking or risk losing assets to more productive, yield-generating competitors.
