🧊 Wall Street Meets Web3: Canada Approves Spot Solana ETFs with Staking

Figure 1: Creation by FarmingLegendX

📦 What’s the Big Innovation?

Canada just did it again. After being first to greenlight spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, the country has now approved four spot Solana ETFs, but this time, there’s a twist that makes them even more interesting: staking rewards.

These ETFs, offered by 3iQ, Purpose Investments, CI Global Asset Management, and

Evolve ETFs, are physically backed – meaning they actually hold real SOL tokens instead of simply tracking Solana’s price. But that’s not all. A portion of the SOL held by each ETF is actively staked on-chain, generating additional income for investors in the form of annual yields estimated between 2% and 3.5%.

In traditional terms, this is like buying a stock that automatically collects dividends, except here, the dividends come from validating and securing a Layer 1 blockchain.

It’s the first time we’re seeing yield-bearing decentralized assets wrapped in a structure trusted by institutional investors.

🪙 TradFi Just Got Its First Taste of On-Chain Yield

Let’s compare: in the U.S., regulators have only approved futures-based crypto ETFs. These are derivatives, essentially paper bets, with no actual crypto behind them. Canada, however, is offering investors direct access to SOL tokens with embedded staking mechanics.

This is huge. Imagine logging into your regular brokerage, buying an ETF, and automatically earning yield from on-chain staking, all without ever setting up a wallet, touching a DEX, or worrying about slashing risks. That’s what these ETFs make possible.

It mirrors what’s happening in DeFi via Liquid Staking Derivatives (LSDs), where users receive a tokenized receipt (like stSOL or mSOL) representing their staked asset. These tokens can then be used in liquidity provision, yield farming, or cross-chain trading.

But in Canada’s case, it’s all packaged in a regulated TradFi wrapper, no DeFi literacy needed.

Purpose CIO put it simply: “We brought Bitcoin and Ether to the stock exchange. Now it’s Solana’s turn.”

And they’re not wrong. This move has likely opened the floodgates for more staking-backed ETFs, not just in Canada, but potentially worldwide, assuming regulators elsewhere start to catch up.

🌉 From Tokens to Tickers: DeFi is Entering the Index Age

This isn’t just another product launch. It’s a cultural shift a sign that the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ethos is seeping into mainstream capital markets. These Solana ETFs don’t just track value, they generate it, in real-time, through the core mechanisms that power the blockchain itself.

We’re talking about Programmable Liquidity, where yield isn't sourced from arbitrage or margin trading but from the very process of block validation and network participation. In the case of Solana, that means delegating tokens to validators, earning yield, and contributing to the chain’s security and decentralization, all without retail investors lifting a finger.

Solana’s blazing-fast Layer 1 architecture, powered by Proof of Stake, made it a prime candidate for this experiment. But it’s not just about one blockchain.

This ETF structure opens the door for future integrations with other chains, especially those supporting Cross-Chain Liquidity, Ecosystem-Owned Liquidity (EOL), or modular staking setups like Matrix Vaults or Eigenlayer-style systems.

It’s the index fund of tomorrow powered by on-chain mechanics but friendly enough for a TradFi spreadsheet.

🧠 Study Notes for the Mitosis Class

🇨🇦 Canada has approved the world’s first staking-enabled Solana ETFs, available on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
These ETFs hold physical SOL and delegate it for staking, generating 2–3.5% yield for investors.
The move bridges DeFi staking mechanics with regulated TradFi investment products.
Canada reaffirms its status as a crypto-forward nation, outpacing the U.S. in ETF innovation.
This sets a precedent for staking-integrated Ethereum ETFs, and perhaps even real-world asset token ETFs down the road.