The first exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering U.S. investors exposure to Solana debuted on Wall Street Wednesday, attracting $12 million in new investments, according to a spokesperson from REX Shares and Osprey Funds.
The Rex-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF is the first in the U.S. to combine exposure to Solana with staking rewards, allocating at least half its assets to staked SOL. Data from Nasdaq shows the ETF achieved $33.6 million in trading volume on its first day.
“[The ETF’s] day 1 trading volume was 82% less than what one would’ve expected based on the SOL/BTC market caps,” noted Juan Leon, Senior Investment Strategist at Bitwise. “This lack of appetite shows institutional investors are still very early in their understanding of SOL.”
Solana (SOL) was trading around $153 at the time of writing, up 4.6% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. The token has fallen roughly 48% from its January high of $293, shortly after the debut of President Donald Trump’s meme coin.
Despite moderate first-day enthusiasm, Wednesday’s launch is being framed as an important milestone for the industry. Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, which is serving as the ETF’s custodian and staking platform, described it as “a new chapter in the crypto ETF story.”
Anchorage, the first federally chartered digital asset bank in the U.S., will safeguard the ETF’s Solana holdings while also handling the staking. McCauley added, “The launch of crypto staking ETFs marks a win for consumers and a significant step forward in full access to the crypto ecosystem.”
Anchorage has a growing presence in crypto asset custody, having supported institutional Ethereum staking since 2022, shortly before Ethereum transitioned to a proof-of-stake model. In April, BlackRock selected Anchorage to safeguard some assets for its Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
While many U.S. crypto ETFs rely on Coinbase as their custodian—including products from Grayscale and Bitwise—the Rex-Osprey Solana + Staking ETF is structured under the Investment Company Act, requiring a qualified custodian such as Anchorage to hold its assets.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart described the launch as off to a “healthy start,” highlighting the ETF’s $8 million in trading volume within its first 20 minutes on Wednesday.
July 2025, Cryptoniteuae