SEC Staff FAQ Says Staking Receipt Tokens Can Be Digital Commodities; Jito

Staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on 25 September 2026 that a staking receipt token "may be classified as a digital commodity if it is issued by a protocol-based Liquid Staking Provider." Jito JTO$0.566+14.1% says that line settles the question for JitoSOL, its liquid staking token, and clears it to sit inside staked Solana ETFs under the exchange listing rules the SEC approved in July.

The guidance comes from a new set of frequently asked questions published by the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, which interpret the joint SEC and CFTC crypto asset release that took effect in March. The answers are staff guidance without legal force, and the FAQ does not name JitoSOL or any other token. The step from "can be a digital commodity" to "can go in an ETF" is Jito's reading.

What the SEC staff FAQ says about staking receipt tokens

A staking receipt token is what a depositor gets back when they hand SOL to a liquid staking pool: the SOL is staked and earns rewards, while the receipt stays tradable. The SEC staff FAQ, dated 25 September 2026, gives these tokens two possible classifications under Section III of the March release.

The default, in Question 1.2, is a "digital tool." In full, the staff answer reads: "Under the circumstances described in the Interpretive Release, a Staking Receipt Token that is a receipt for a digital commodity that is not subject to an investment contract is itself a digital tool because it is a receipt that serves a practical function of evidencing the holder's ownership of the underlying digital commodity. However, a Staking Receipt Token also may be classified as a digital commodity if it is issued by a protocol-based Liquid Staking Provider. In these cases, the Staking Receipt Token is intrinsically linked to and derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system that is functional, as well as supply and demand dynamics."

Question 1.3 defines what makes a token a receipt at all. A receipt certifies that "a stated amount of an asset has been deposited with a depository or custodian issuing the receipt" and does not give the holder any extra financial benefit. The staff add that the receipt issuer "cannot transfer, lend, pledge, rehypothecate, or otherwise use the deposited asset for any reason, or subject the asset to claims by third parties." In plain terms, a pool that lends out depositors' SOL would not be issuing a receipt under this definition.

The FAQ page does not spell out which providers count as "protocol-based," and it does not mention exchange-traded products or listing standards.

Why digital commodity status matters for staked Solana ETFs

The classification matters because of where ETF rules now draw the line. The SEC-approved amendments to the generic listing standards, which we covered in August, let commodity-based trusts on Nasdaq, NYSE Arca and Cboe BZX hold up to 15 percent of net asset value in "digital commodities" that fall outside the standard eligibility criteria, according to the Jito Foundation's August analysis. The Jito Foundation dates those approvals to 27, 28 and 29 July 2026 and notes that assets in that buffer need no product-specific rule filing.

That buffer is written for digital commodities, and the definition it uses is drawn from the SEC and CFTC Interpretive Release, effective 23 March 2026. A receipt token classed only as a "digital tool" sits in a different category of that release. Question 1.2 says in terms that a staking receipt token can land in the commodity category, and it ties that outcome to the issuer being protocol-based.

For a staked SOL fund, the practical difference is liquidity. A trust that stakes SOL directly has to wait out the unbonding period to meet redemptions, which is why Jito's blog argues a trust holding a liquid staking token can stay fully staked and still sell or redeem the token when shareholders cash out.

JitoSOL is large enough for that question to be practical. Solana Compass's stake pool data shows the Jito stake pool holding about 10.38 million SOL delegated across 306 validators, against a JitoSOL token supply of about 7.96 million, as of epoch 1042 on 25 September 2026. That puts each JitoSOL's claim at about 1.30 SOL, the rising redemption ratio that accrued staking rewards produce.

Jito's claim: JitoSOL is "free & clear" for staked Solana ETFs

Jito responded the same evening. Rebecca Rettig, Jito Labs' chief legal officer, wrote on X at 19:42 UTC that the FAQ "lines up real nice" with Jito's analysis of JitoSOL as a digital commodity under the amended Generic Listing Standards.

The official Jito account followed 16 minutes later, saying the SEC's guidance "aligns closely with the framework Jito has laid out for JitoSOL as a digital commodity, creating a clearer path for inclusion in staked Solana ETFs."

Jito's case rests on the argument it published on 6 August. The Jito Foundation says JitoSOL's value has two inputs, the price of SOL and protocol-paid staking rewards, and that validator selection runs through StakeNet, open-source on-chain code that scores validators on public performance data, with changes subject to a Jito DAO vote. That is the "protocol-based" profile Question 1.2 describes, on Jito's account. The same post proposes objective tests for qualifying receipt tokens, including non-custodial issuance, no guaranteed return, and fees that are disclosed and capped.

JitoSOL already has U.S. fund history. The Jito Foundation says REX-Osprey added it to the SOL + Staking ETF (SSK) in July 2025 at roughly 5 percent of net assets. SSK is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, a different regime from the commodity-based trusts the new listing rules cover, and Jito itself offers it "as operating experience rather than as precedent" for the new listing rules.

What the SEC FAQ leaves unsettled for JitoSOL

The FAQ carries the SEC's standard caveat: the answers "represent the views of the staff of the Division of Corporation Finance," the Commission "has neither approved nor disapproved their content," and "like all staff guidance, these FAQs have no legal force or effect."

Whether JitoSOL is issued by a "protocol-based Liquid Staking Provider" is Jito's own conclusion. The SEC has not said so, and the FAQ lists no qualifying tokens. As of publication, no U.S. staked Solana ETF issuer has announced adding JitoSOL, or any other liquid staking token, in response to the FAQ. That decision sits with issuers, their custodians and the listing exchanges.

What changed on 25 September is that a staked SOL fund sponsor weighing a liquid staking token now has SEC staff language that matches the argument Jito made in August. For Solana's liquid staking pools, Question 1.2 ties commodity status to how the issuer is built. That makes pool design, such as the on-chain validator selection and DAO-governed changes Jito points to for JitoSOL, the part of the argument sponsors and exchanges would need to assess for themselves.