Asset manager VanEck has formally requested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission withdraw its registration statement for the VanEck Lido Staked Ethereum ETF, effectively ending a one-year-old proposal to give traditional investors exposure to Lido’s stETH token. The request was submitted on October 14, 2026 under SEC file number 333-290918.
The original S-1 was filed on October 16, 2025, and was later amended. In the new filing, VanEck Digital Assets said it “does not intend to proceed with the planned distribution” of the fund’s shares. The company confirmed that the registration statement never became effective, no shares were issued or sold, and no preliminary prospectus was distributed. The withdrawal was made under Rule 477 of the Securities Act of 1933 and was signed by Matthew A. Babinsky, vice president of VanEck Digital Assets.
The proposed ETF would have held Lido stETH, a liquid staking token representing Ethereum deposited through the Lido protocol. The fund’s objective was to track the price of stETH after operating expenses, with returns potentially boosted by Ethereum staking rewards. That structure distinguished it from a conventional spot Ethereum ETF, which would primarily hold ETH directly.
VanEck gave no detailed reason for abandoning the product and did not announce a replacement fund. The withdrawal request also does not affect VanEck’s other crypto fund applications, including the previously filed JitoSOL ETF linked to Solana staking.
The cancellation comes after the Lido Ecosystem Foundation publicly welcomed the original application in October 2025. At that time, Lido reported more than $2 billion in cumulative staking rewards and total value locked near $40 billion. VanEck’s original trust registration had also coincided with a roughly 7% gain in the LDO governance token, although the proposed fund would have held stETH rather than LDO.
The withdrawn ETF followed an August 2025 SEC staff statement on liquid staking arrangements. VanEck had previously stated it believed its planned staking activities were consistent with that guidance, while acknowledging that a different regulatory interpretation could create legal risks.
