US stock exchange Cboe has filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) submitted to allow staking for 21Shares' Ethereum Spot ETF. This is according to official documents filed with the U.S. exchange watchdog. According to Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart, this is the first Ethereum ETF to apply to the SEC for staking approval.

The final deadline for the SEC to approve or reject the application is Oct. 30, 2025. In 2024, the SEC approved several Ethereum Spot ETFs, but explicitly prohibited staking. According to the authority, it is unclear whether staking should be assessed as an unregistered securities service.

With new appointments within the SEC and less restrictive regulatory policies under the Trump administration, investors and companies are now hoping for approval for the staking feature. Looking at the first few months of the Spot ETFs of Bitcoin and Ethereum, digital gold is clearly performing better. Although several million dollars a month continue to flow into the BTC index funds, Ethereum has taken the lead in recent weeks in terms of inflows based on the market capitalization of the underlying assets.

Staking providers make it possible to generate additional income by depositing cryptocurrencies. This involves cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH) or Cardano (ADA), which are based on the Proof-of-Stake mechanism.

After a significant decline in the last 30 days - ETH fell 17 percent - the price stands at $2,700 after a small recovery wave. The all-time high is currently 45 percent off.