Grayscale to stake nearly all ether in its ETF

Grayscale has filed an amended trust deed for its Ethereum Staking Mini ETF, the fund that trades under the ticker ETH. It holds roughly 839,556 ether, of which 80.8 percent is currently staked. The amendment clears the way to push that share towards the entire holding — some 161,000 ether that is sitting idle.

The gross reward runs at around 2.78 percent a year; after costs, 2.61 percent is left. The fund's management fee is 0.15 percent.

The real change is in the payout

More interesting than the percentage is what happens to the proceeds. Grayscale does not hold on to the staking rewards as extra ether but converts them into cash and pays that out to shareholders every quarter.

That is a tax decision, not a technical one. The US tax authorities treat staking rewards as ordinary income the moment you receive them. A continuous stream of micro-rewards would therefore produce a continuous stream of taxable events. A payout four times a year turns that into four documentable moments.

The downside is stated plainly in the filing: double taxation arises in two steps. The reward is income on receipt, and converting it into cash can then produce a further gain or loss, depending on how the price moves between receipt and sale.

That any of this is possible at all is new. On 6 January 2026, Grayscale used the larger Ethereum Trust to make the first American staking distribution ever inside a classic fund wrapper, worth roughly 9.4 million dollars (about €8.2 million). That proved the regulatory and tax framework could carry it.

Why this matters for Europe

As a European investor you cannot buy this fund. American ETFs are not available to retail investors here because they lack a European information document. Even so, it is relevant, for two reasons.

The first is that European ETP issuers are studying this structure. Staking inside a regulated product was the open question for years; now there is a working model, tax treatment included.

The second is the comparison you can draw yourself. A net return of 2.61 percent inside a fund is not the same as staking yourself. Stake on your own and you keep more, but you carry the validator risk, the withdrawal queue and the key management. Do it through a product and you pay for the convenience. Which of the two works out better depends on your amount and on how much work you want it to be.

What this is worth to you

When you weigh up a European staking product, look at the three things this filing brings into focus. How much of the holding is actually staked — 80 percent earns 80 percent of the reward, no more. What is left net after costs. And how the proceeds are paid out: as extra units, as cash, or not at all.

That last point determines how you have to report it. In the Netherlands crypto falls under box 3, where the value on the reference date counts rather than the proceeds; other European countries handle it differently, and with a distributing product the proceeds may be taxed in their own right. This is not tax advice and the rules differ from country to country — put it to someone who knows your situation before you choose on the basis of the gross percentage.

Sources: Grayscale (amended trust deed, July 2026), Crypto Briefing (7 August 2026), BeInCrypto. Last checked: 9 August 2026.