BlackRock has announced the launch of a new Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) that incorporates staking. This is the firm’s first crypto ETF that is designed to generate yield from blockchain validation rewards.
The new product, iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, will reportedly charge the same base fee as BlackRock’s existing Ethereum ETF at 0.25%. This comes as the largest altcoin is facing heavy selling pressure, but its linked US ETFs have posted gains. Ethereum price has dipped marginally over the last 7 days, while Ether ETFs have managed to bag more than $57 million of inflow this week, with reports showing an inflow of $12.5 million in the past week.
BlackRock lowers ETHB fees to 0.12%
According to reports, BlackRock will include a temporary fee waiver, lowering costs to 0.12% for the first year or until the fund reaches $2.5 billion in assets. James Seyffart noted that Coinbase will serve as both the custodian and staking provider for the fund. However, the ETF is expected to rely on a small group of approved validators, which includes Figment, Galaxy Digital, and Attestant.
Attestant was recently acquired by Bitwise Asset Management. It is being rebranded as Bitwise Onchain Solutions, he added. Seyffart mentioned that the fund will hold spot Ethereum and stake a portion of those holdings on the network. Staking rewards earned by the ETF will then be sold and distributed to investors as dividends. He expected that it would be paid monthly.
ETHB begins trading on Nasdaq and becomes BlackRock’s third crypto ETF. The firm is already operating the iShares Bitcoin Trust and the iShares Ethereum Trust. IBIT currently manages more than $55 billion in assets. Its cumulative net inflow hovers around $62.88 billion. BlackRock’s ETHA has grown to roughly $6.5 billion, and it holds a cumulative net inflow of $11.93 billion.
New feature could help investors earn staking rewards
Jay Jacobs, BlackRock’s U.S. head of equity ETFs, reportedly stated that some investors want exposure to Ether’s price while also capturing staking rewards that are typically available only when holding tokens directly. He added that the absence of staking in the first wave of Ethereum ETFs may have discouraged some investors from moving assets into ETFs.
Earlier, Bloomberg’s Seyffart, in a post, mentioned that the average cost basis for ETH ETF holders sits near $3,500, while Ether has recently traded closer to $2,000. The launch comes as existing Ethereum ETF investors face high unrealized losses. This leaves the holders with around 43% unrealized loss on average. The drawdown is reflecting a similar decline in April 2025 when ETH fell more than 60% before recovering.
He added that despite the downturn, most investors have held their positions. Net inflows into Ethereum ETFs have declined from about $15 billion to just under $12 billion. This is a much worse selloff than the Bitcoin ETFs on a relative basis, but still fairly decent diamond hands in the grand scheme. Ether’s price has dropped by more than 33% in the last 90 days. After witnessing a minor recovery, ETH is trading at an average price of $2,071 at the press time.
