After the first wave of spot ether ($ETH) BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB), an exchange-traded fund launched without staking, is one of the most anticipated versions in the industry and will begin trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday.
The fund is the asset manager’s third crypto ETF and BlackRock’s first to incorporate staking. ETHB holds Spot Ether and stakes a portion of its holdings on the Ethereum network, allowing investors to potentially earn rewards while benefiting from price movements.
This new instrument expands on BlackRock’s existing digital asset lineup, which includes iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA). These funds have grown rapidly since their inception and currently manage more than $55 billion in assets for IBIT and approximately $6.5 billion for ETHA.
“This is really a matter of investor choice,” Jay Jacobs, head of U.S. equity ETFs at BlackRock, told CoinDesk in an interview. “While ETHA has developed a liquidity and derivatives market, some investors are focused on combining Ether price exposure with staking rewards to maximize total returns,” he added.
Ethereum uses a proof-of-stake system that allows native token holders to verify transactions and lock their coins to protect the network. In return, participants receive a fee, which many investors view as a yield-like feature of the asset.
Until now, most Ether ETFs only offered price exposure without staking, but some asset managers, including Grayscale, have recently launched ETFs with staking capabilities. Jacobs said this gap may have deterred some crypto-native investors from moving their assets into exchange-traded funds.
“Some investors who already held Ether directly were staking Ether and were not ready to move to an exchange-traded product because they would lose that feature,” he said. “By incorporating staking, ETFs allow investors to gain the operational benefits of an ETF structure while retaining the benefits of staking.”
These benefits include institutional-grade custody, the ability to trade through traditional brokerage accounts, and integration with standard portfolio allocations alongside stocks and bonds.
This product may also appeal to certain institutional investors who prefer assets that generate income or cash flow.
“Some institutions like to look at it from a cash flow perspective when evaluating investments,” Jacobs says. Staking rewards could help make Ether more comparable to other assets in portfolio models.
Read more: Crypto ETFs with staking can significantly boost returns, but are not suitable for everyone
BlackRock expects the product to attract interest from a wide range of investors, including individual traders, financial advisors, and institutional investors such as hedge funds and family offices.
The fund will have a sponsor fee of 0.25%, but BlackRock will waive a portion of the fee in the first year, reducing it to 0.12% on the first $2.5 billion in assets. Jacobs said the temporary discounts are intended to help gain traction during the product’s early months.
Despite the growth of crypto investment products, allocations to digital assets remain relatively small in traditional portfolios. Jacobs said institutions typically make allocations in the “low single digits,” often about 1% to 2%. At these levels, he said, the risk contribution of Bitcoin and other digital assets could be comparable to the exposure investors already accept from large-cap technology stocks in diversified portfolios.
BlackRock has quickly become one of the largest companies in crypto investment products. The company oversees approximately $130 billion across cryptocurrency-related exchange-traded products, tokenized liquidity funds, and stablecoin reserve management. According to the company, iShares captured approximately 95% of flows to digital assets ETP in 2025.
Jacobs said that for now, the company remains focused on increasing adoption of existing crypto products, particularly Bitcoin and Ether, as many investors are still learning about the asset class.
“The adoption of digital asset ETFs is still in its early stages,” he said. “For many investors, this is the first step.”
