VanEck applies for the world's first JitoSOL ETF: staking yield vs price fluctuation, which is the core of long-term investment? | Institutional-level Solana analysis

Asset management giant VanEck has officially submitted the world's first Solana ETF application, which is 100% based on liquid staking tokens (LST), to the SEC. This product will be fully anchored to JitoSOL. This move has sparked a core debate in the industry: which is more important, the compound interest advantage of staking rewards or the short-term price fluctuations that dominate investment decisions? This article provides an in-depth analysis of the SEC policy breakthrough, the underlying mechanism of JitoSOL, and the compliance process for institutional-grade encryption products.

▌ Product Revolution: The Breakthrough Significance of the World's First 100% LST-Backed ETF If approved, VanEck's application for the JitoSOL ETF will become the first exchange-traded fund in the U.S. market fully backed by liquid staking tokens, marking the formal entry of staking derivatives into the mainstream financial framework. This product is based on the JitoSOL token from JitoNetwork, the top staking protocol in the Solana ecosystem, and encapsulates the staking yield mechanism within a compliance financial instrument, providing traditional investors with a one-click exposure to both Solana network yields and price opportunities.

▌ Analyst Debate: Can Staking Returns Hedge Market Fluctuations? After the application was announced, analysts quickly divided into camps: researcher Tom Lombardi questioned the actual impact of staking returns, pointing out that "SOL's daily increase is 13.6%, while the staking daily return is only 0.02%—is the yield really important?"; VanEck's head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, emphasized the long-term advantages of compound interest: "When SOL recovers from a 50% drop to its historical high, stakers have already broken even, while non-stakers are still on the road to recovery—this is the silent power of compound interest."

▌ SEC Policy Breakthrough: LST Officially Recognized as "Technical Revenue Rights Certificate" The Jito team revealed that this application is the result of 8 months of collaboration with SEC staff. The key breakthrough is that the SEC's 2025 guidelines officially acknowledge that liquid staking tokens (LST) are essentially "technical receipts representing staked assets + returns," which clears the compliance barriers for LST ETFs. Jito particularly pointed out the four major advantages brought by ETFification: liquidity discipline, investor-friendly economic models, pure net asset value mechanisms, and closer network alignment—these are the core building blocks of institutional trust.

▌ Strategic Layout: How VanEck Bridges Traditional Finance and Blockchain Yield Economy For VanEck, the JitoSOL ETF is a key step in its strategy to incorporate staking economics into a regulatory framework. This product not only addresses the technical barriers faced by traditional capital allocators but also positions Solana as an institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure. Jito Labs CEO Lucas Bruder stated, "Only an ETF backed by 100% staking can provide investors with the best product experience," reflecting the proactive push from ecosystem participants for the compliance process.

▌ Investor Choices: The Art of Balancing Short-term Price Games and Long-term Compound Interest Defense Although community data shows that staking SOL yields outperform mainstream assets like ETH and BTC, actual investment strategies still have their differences: short-term traders focus on price Fluctuation to capture opportunities, while institutional investors are increasingly viewing stake yields as a risk buffer in market cycles. Regardless of individual choices, VanEck's application has clearly signaled that stake-based yield products are fully entering the mainstream regulatory view.

[Conclusion] When the Solana ecosystem meets the traditional financial packaging revolution, the application for JitoSOL ETF has transcended the meaning of the product itself, becoming a touchstone for testing whether "yield-generating encryption assets" can gain mainstream acceptance. Regardless of whether investors ultimately prefer price explosiveness or compound interest defensiveness, an irreversible trend is forming: staking economics is reconstructing the investment logic of digital assets within a compliance framework.