VanEck Asks SEC to Withdraw Lido Staked Ethereum ETF Filing

VanEck Digital Assets has asked the SEC to consent to the withdrawal of the Form S-1 for its proposed VanEck Lido Staked Ethereum ETF. The product was tied to Lido's staked ether token and never sold a share. The sponsor filed the request under Rule 477 for File No. 333-290918.

The application rests on one stated ground: VanEck "does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution of the Trust's shares registered by the Registration Statement."

The application gives that ground and no further reason for the change of course. It names outside counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, Cliff Cone and Etherial Edetan, as contact points.

Nothing Was Issued or Sold Under the Filing

The same filing confirms that the registration statement was never declared effective. No securities have been or will be issued or sold under it. No preliminary prospectus was distributed. The S-1 was initially filed with the SEC on October 16, 2025.

Because nothing was ever sold, this ends a proposed offering rather than closing a fund that investors hold.

What the Fund Was Built to Hold

Lido said in its announcement of the original filing that the product was "a proposed fund designed to provide investors with exposure to stETH, ETH staked via the Lido protocol." Lido described it as the first US ETF proposal referencing stETH. It said the fund would give institutional investors a compliant, tax-efficient route to Ethereum staking exposure.

The issuer argument for the wrapper was operational. Lido said liquid staking removes the need for an ETF issuer to hold idle ETH for redemptions. That is because stETH can be redeemed or traded without Ethereum's withdrawal delays. Lido reported that staking users have earned more than $2 billion in staking rewards through the protocol since launch. Total value locked is nearly $40 billion.

Kean Gilbert, head of institutional relations at the Lido Ecosystem Foundation, framed the filing this way:

The filing signals growing recognition that liquid staking is an essential part of Ethereum's infrastructure.

Sam Kim, chief legal officer of the Lido Labs Foundation, said filings that reference liquid staking are "a sign of growing regulatory understanding."

The SEC's Liquid Staking Position Is Staff-Level

The withdrawal lands inside a framework that had already loosened on paper. On August 5, 2025, the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance issued a statement that liquid staking activities tied to protocol staking do not involve the offer and sale of securities. That holds unless the deposited assets are part of or subject to an investment contract. SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins called it "a significant step forward" and tied it to the agency's Project Crypto initiative.

More recently, the Division's crypto asset FAQs, dated September 28, 2026, state that a staking receipt token which receipts a digital commodity not subject to an investment contract is itself a digital tool. The FAQs reference an Interpretive Release issued by the Commission on March 17, 2026.

Both documents are staff views. The FAQs say so in their own text: they "are not a rule, regulation or statement of the Securities and Exchange Commission." They have no legal force. Neither one approves an ETF. Neither is written as an instruction to issuers about what a stETH-holding fund must look like.

What the Withdrawal Does Not Settle

• Whether the SEC has consented to the withdrawal. No action on the Form RW is confirmed.
• Whether VanEck plans a replacement staking or liquid-staking product. None has been described.
• What the SEC specifically expected of a stETH-holding ETF beyond the August 2025 statement and the September 2026 FAQs. Any link between those documents and VanEck's decision is analysis, not a stated fact.
• The reaction in Lido's LDO token to the withdrawal itself. No price move tied to the withdrawal was verified.

The observable next steps are a consent order from the SEC or a new registration statement from VanEck. Until one appears, the confirmed outcome is a withdrawal request still waiting on the regulator.