Hashdex’s NCIQ established a crypto staking framework

Hashdex Nasdaq CME Crypto Index ETF established a framework on July 23, 2026 that authorized the fund to stake eligible crypto assets and specified how resulting income would be divided between its sponsor and common shareholders. The executed agreements mattered because they brought proof-of-stake participation inside a Nasdaq-listed, multi-asset crypto product rather than leaving the fund solely dependent on changes in the market value of its holdings.

The fund, trading under the symbol NCIQ, told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it expected to begin staking promptly, subject to operational readiness. Coinbase Cloud Pte. Ltd. was identified as the initial staking-services provider. That was a statement of intended implementation, not confirmation that assets had already been staked or rewards received on July 23.

The sponsor received the first layer of income

The amended trust agreement created one unlisted Sponsor Share, held exclusively by the sponsor. After validators, custodians and other staking providers deducted their applicable fees and commissions, the remaining amount was defined as Net Staking Income.

The first portion of that income—up to an annualized amount equal to 25 basis points, or 0.25%, of net asset value attributable to common shares—would be allocated entirely to the Sponsor Share. Net Staking Income above that threshold would be divided 40% to the sponsor and 60% to common shareholders. The common-share portion would be reflected in their net asset value, while the sponsor’s allocation would be distributed monthly.

The staking allocation was separate from NCIQ’s management fee, which the sponsor agreement also set at 0.25% per year of daily common-share net asset value. Consequently, common shareholders could receive no staking income when annualized Net Staking Income remained at or below the 25-basis-point threshold. If it exceeded that level, common shareholders would participate only in the excess under the 60–40 division. This is a direct reading of the executed allocation formula, not a projection of future rewards.

Broad authority, constrained by eligibility

The trust agreement permitted staking of as much as 100% of assets classified as Eligible Staking Assets. It did not make every index constituent automatically eligible. The sponsor retained discretion to determine which holdings could be staked consistently with the fund’s investment objective, liquidity policies and applicable law.

That qualification was institutionally important. Staking can generate protocol rewards, but committing assets to validation also adds operational dependencies that do not exist when assets remain unstaked in custody. The amended documents placed asset selection, provider arrangements and the assessment of legal, tax and liquidity risks within the fund’s governance structure.

NCIQ’s filing also added Marex Capital Markets as an authorized participant under an agreement governing creation and redemption baskets. Separately, a digital-asset purchase-and-sale agreement with JSCT, LLC had been signed on July 22, 2026. Those arrangements supported the fund’s primary-market and trading infrastructure, but they did not establish how much staking liquidity would ultimately be available.

What the July 23 record established

The verified development was authorization and contractual design, not measured investment performance. The filings supplied no event-day staking balance, protocol reward rate, provider-fee schedule by asset or realized income. They also did not report a market-price reaction attributable to the change, so this reconstruction makes no claim about NCIQ’s return, trading volume or premium to net asset value.

The importance of the framework was therefore structural. A regulated exchange-traded crypto product had created a mechanism for eligible proof-of-stake holdings to participate in network validation while disclosing that the sponsor would receive all initial net income and 40% of income above the stated threshold. Whether the program would produce material benefits for common shareholders remained unresolved on July 23, 2026.