BlackRock’s staked Ether ETF debuts: $100M AUM, $15.5M volume

BlackRock launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) on Friday with just over $100 million in assets and about $15.5 million in first-day trading, offering exposure to ether (ETH) along with staking rewards paid through monthly distributions.

The fund stakes between 70% and 95% of its ether holdings to help secure the network, a process that generates rewards. According to its prospectus, about 82% of those rewards go to investors via monthly payouts, while the remaining 18% is allocated to the trust, custodians and staking service providers.

ETHB charges a 0.25% sponsor fee. BlackRock is offering a temporary discounted rate of 0.12% on the first $2.5 billion in assets.

Trading under the ticker ETHB, the fund recorded roughly $11 million in volume by early afternoon before ending near $15.5 million. ETF analyst James Seyffart noted on X that ETHB opened with a little over $100 million in assets and described the early activity as “a pretty good start for any ETF.”

The launch comes as ether works to recover from a prolonged drawdown. ETH recently moved back above $2,000 after finding demand around the $1,700–$1,800 range. In a message, Wenny Cai, COO at SynFutures, wrote that a reversal of roughly $4 billion in spot ETH outflows had emerged in the last two days and linked the shift to the ETHB debut.

By putting staking inside an exchange-traded product, ETHB targets investors who want ether exposure and on-chain rewards without running validators or managing crypto wallets. The yield will vary based on network conditions and the share of assets staked within the fund’s 70%–95% range.

ETHB expands BlackRock’s digital asset lineup. The firm’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) launched in January 2024, followed by the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) in July 2024, which provides non-staked ether exposure.