Grayscale's Ethereum ETF Begins Paying Staking Rewards

Digital asset manager Grayscale made the first distribution of Ethereum staking rewards to shareholders of a U.S. spot crypto exchange-traded product on Monday, effectively extending regulated crypto products beyond price tracking to include protocol-level income under the Securities Act of 1933.

The distribution covers staking rewards earned from October 6, 2025, through year-end, with ETHE shareholders receiving $0.083178 per share, payable on Tuesday, based on holdings as of January 5.

Grayscale’s move could reshape how proof-of-stake assets are packaged for public investors, after staking rewards were previously excluded from U.S. spot crypto ETFs amid regulatory uncertainty, despite being a core source of economic return for networks such as Ethereum.