Today in crypto, Grayscale Investments has launched its staking-enabled Solana ETF on NYSE Arca and is now the second Solana ETP manager in the US, Ethereum’s Fusaka fork debuted on its final testnet, and Polymarket is preparing to relaunch trading services in the US within weeks.
Grayscale debuts Solana ETF, joining Bitwise in SOL staking ETF race
Cryptocurrency asset manager Grayscale Investments has launched its staking-enabled Solana spot exchange-traded fund (ETF), expanding institutional access to Solana exposure.
According to a Wednesday announcement, the Grayscale Solana Trust ETF began trading under the GSOL ticker on the New York Stock Exchange Arca platform. The product includes staking functionality, allowing investors to earn rewards through Solana’s proof-of-stake (PoS) network.
Grayscale’s senior vice president of ETFs, Inkoo Kang, said the new product is “expanding investor choice.” The company said it is now among the largest Solana (SOL) exchange-traded product (ETP) managers in the United States by assets under management.
The launch follows the debut of Bitwise’s staking Solana ETF on Tuesday, which launched with $222.9 million of assets under management. Grayscale launched with a seed of $102.7 million, less than half of Bitwise’s.
Ethereum’s Fusaka fork primed for mainnet after final testnet debut
Ethereum’s next major upgrade, Fusaka, went live on the blockchain’s final testnet, Hoodi, on Tuesday, setting the stage for its Dec. 3 mainnet launch that is slated to add several scalability and security improvements to the network.
Fusaka will add several Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), such as Peer Data Availability Sampling, or PeerDAS, via EIP-7594, enabling validators to read smaller pieces of data on layer 2 networks as opposed to full blobs, boosting node efficiency.
EIP-7825 and EIP-7935 are also included in the update, which aim to raise the gas limit and improve efficiency as Ethereum prepares to unlock parallel execution, the processing of multiple smart contracts at the same time. Other EIPs in the update focus on improving zero-knowledge rollups.
The upgrade is looking to improve Ethereum’s scalability, one third of the so-called “blockchain trilemma” coined by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin that also includes decentralization and security.
Polymarket eyes November for US relaunch: Report
Prediction platform Polymarket is reportedly eyeing launching trading services in the United States in a matter of weeks.
According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter, Polymarket plans to initially launch limited trades available to US residents before the end of November, with an emphasis on sports betting.
The relaunch report came about two months after the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it had issued a no-action letter to a crypto derivatives exchange and clearinghouse acquired by Polymarket. This move set the stage for the company to “go live in the USA,” according to CEO Shayne Coplan.
Reports from September suggested that, should Polymarket reopen to US markets, the company could have a valuation as high as $10 billion. As of June, the predictions platform was valued at about $1 billion following a $200-million funding round.
As of Tuesday, Polymarket’s website showed a waitlist, saying that it would “soon be available for US traders.” Cointelegraph reached out to the company for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
