VanEck withdraws SEC registration for its Lido Staked Ethereum ETF

VanEck has told the Securities and Exchange Commission it does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution of shares in its Lido Staked Ethereum ETF, a product that would have given US brokerage investors direct exposure to Lido’s staked Ether token. The filing states VanEck Digital Assets “does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution” of the trust’s shares, and it gives no reason for the retreat.

The fund was the first US ETF filing tied to Lido’s liquid staking token, stETH. VanEck registered the vehicle as a Delaware statutory trust around October 2, 2025 and filed its S-1 registration statement on October 16, 2025, according to the fund’s filing history. The registration never became effective, so no shares were issued and none will be. The withdrawal filing, made with the SEC this week, ends a filing that sat dormant for about a year.

The proposed fund would have held stETH directly and expected to accrue staking rewards through ownership of the token, an arrangement designed to put the yield-bearing asset inside a standard brokerage account. Neither the filing nor the company said what prompted the decision or whether VanEck would pursue a replacement product.

The exit lands against a shifting regulatory backdrop. The SEC has issued guidance distinguishing certain liquid staking activities from securities, and development of liquid staking ETFs continues in both the United States and Europe despite VanEck’s withdrawal. For Lido, the reversal unwinds part of the institutional narrative that lifted its LDO governance token roughly 7% when the original filing was announced in October 2025, when Lido’s total value locked stood around $38 billion to $40 billion.

VanEck did not respond to a request for comment.