Cathie Wood’s ARK partners with SOL Strategies for staking services

Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has named Canada-based SOL Strategies as its exclusive staking partner for the company’s Digital Assets Revolutions Fund.

Under the partnership, ARK Invest will move its validator operations to the SOL Strategies staking infrastructure. Created in 2020, the Fund typically invests in 10 to 12 cryptocurrencies aiming to generate returns over a full market cycle of four to five years.

“We serve a growing number of institutional and enterprise clients seeking compliant, reliable access to Solana through delegated staking and custom validator infrastructure,” SOL Strategies CEO Leah Wald told Cointelegraph. BitGo, an institutional custody platform that partnered with SOL Strategies in April, will also be involved.

Staking is the process of locking up cryptocurrencies to help secure a blockchain network and earn rewards. Solana epochs last about two to three days, after which Solana (SOL) stakers receive a certain amount of the native coin.

“We currently operate five validators with over 3.59 million SOL (CAD $888 million) ($647.2 million) in assets under delegation and more than 5,700 unique wallets staked, with just 12% coming from our own treasury, the rest from third parties,” Wald said.

However, staking has risks. If a validator were to misbehave, its staked tokens could be slashed, resulting in losses for investors. According to Solana Compass, roughly 403 million SOL tokens are being staked at this writing for a total of $73.5 billion.

SOL Strategies posted a loss of $3.5 million for the second quarter of 2025, although its staking and validating revenue grew significantly. Other companies like DeFi Development Corp. and Upexi have also pivoted to Solana treasuries as the asset has gained more traction among traditional investors.

Related: Canada’s Sol Strategies files with SEC to list on the Nasdaq

Increased interest in staking from institutional investors

ARK Invest’s move indicates increased interest from institutional investors, who may want to earn yield on crypto assets along with the potential appreciation in price. Asset managers are also seeking to get exposure to Ether (ETH) staking.

Over the past few months, several issuers of Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have submitted formal requests with the SEC seeking approval for income-generating features.

“We’re seeing a clear surge in institutional interest in Solana exposure, not just to the asset, but to structured, investable vehicles that provide access with regulatory clarity,” Wald said.

As the U.S. regulatory landscape becomes more defined, family offices, hedge funds, and asset managers are actively seeking products like ETFs, structured notes, and public equities (DATs and Solana technology firms like ours) that offer clean Solana exposure.

ARK Invest is well-known in crypto circles, making a plethora of investments with significant amounts of capital. Recently, it scooped up shares in Circle’s initial public offering before selling the first batch of shares for $52 million on June 17. It is an active participant in Bitcoin ETFs and has invested in crypto companies’ stocks in the past.

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