A new listed product that holds real TAO tokens and channels Bittensor staking payments will begin trading on the Swiss regulated market. Deutsche Digital Assets together with Safello have announced that the Staked Bittensor ETP, with the ticker STAO, will be available to trade on SIX Swiss Exchange from 19 November 2025. This initiative provides asset managers, corporate treasuries and trading desks with a way to gain exposure to decentralized AI through a security that offers the same protections as any other Swiss listed instrument.
The ETP is the result of the joint work of Deutsche Digital Assets and Safello. It follows the Kaiko Safello Staked Bittensor index, an indicator that adds the value of staking rewards to the TAO spot price. For each security held by investors, the issuer maintains an equivalent amount of TAO tokens in cold storage.
The staking rewards, which arrive every twelve seconds on the Bittensor network, are sold by the issuer to buy more TAO, thus increasing the number of tokens backing each note without any action required from the purchaser.
Structure and operation of the product
Meanwhile, the investors retain the right to sell the product any day on the market, without having to wait the usual unbonding period that locks tokens in direct staking. The issuer, not the buyer, manages the validator nodes and assumes the operational risk, charging an annual fee of 1.49% for this service.
The choice of Switzerland as jurisdiction is merely strategic, since Swiss regulations treat staked tokens as segregated property in the event of custodian insolvency, increasing the likelihood that collateral will return to investors.
STAO will begin trading on 19 November 2025, and the initial volume and buyer demand will indicate the institutional interest in maintaining tokenized exposure to artificial intelligence through this innovative instrument.
