Fidelity Adds Staking Payments To Ethereum ETF

Privately held asset manager Fidelity says it is adding quarterly staking payments to its leading Ethereum Fund ($FETH).

Fidelity is not only one of the first asset managers to offer staking payments to investors, but its FETH fund is one of the largest spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. 

Fidelity's Ethereum Fund has $898 million U.S. in net assets and could stake as much as 100% of its Ethereum. 

However, Fidelity has not said how much of its Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) will be staked. The fund will keep some ETH for redemptions, expenses, and other liquidity needs, said the firm.

Crypto staking is the process of locking up digital coins in a blockchain network to help secure it and verify transactions. 

In return for staking their cryptocurrency, investors earn rewards, usually in the form of additional digital assets or cash payments.

Analysts liken staking payments to interest earned on a bank account. 

Fidelity joins other asset managers Grayscale and 21Shares in adding staking to existing Ethereum funds. 

Fidelity said that staking rewards would first be used to cover fund expenses and would then be used for quarterly cash distributions to investors in the ETF. 

The fund could also sell some Ethereum to raise cash for payouts to investors, said Fidelity.

How much money investors could receive in staking payouts each quarter has not been made public by Fidelity. 

As a private company Fidelity's stock does not trade on a public exchange.