BlackRock today debuted the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (Nasdaq: ETHB) — the firm's first crypto exchange-traded fund to incorporate staking and its third spot crypto ETF overall.
In a press release from BlackRock today, March 12, the world’s largest asset manager, with $14 trillion in AUM, said that ETHB will stake “a portion of its ether holdings.” Per the asset manager’s dedicated webpage for the fund, Coinbase Prime will provide ETH custody — and presumably staking services.
The Defiant first reported when BlackRock registered its staked Ethereum ETF last November, which came about four months after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) acknowledged BlackRock’s filing to permit staking in its Ethereum ETFs.
ETHB is BlackRock's first yield-bearing ETF, though it's not first to market among staked ETH funds in the U.S. REX-Osprey launched ESK — the first U.S. staked ETH ETF, under the 1940 Act — in September 2025, and Grayscale enabled staking on its ETH and SOL products in October, as The Defiant reported.
The broader push dates back to March of last year, when Cboe proposed adding staking to existing Ethereum ETFs.
BlackRock is the dominant crypto ETF issuer by net assets across both its spot ETH and BTC ETFs. The firm’s spot Ethereum ETF, ETHA, holds just under $6.6 billion in net assets as of March 11, per data from SoSoValue. That represents more than 50% of the U.S. Ethereum ETF market, which currently stands at $11.85 billion.
Among spot Bitcoin ETFs, BlackRock’s IBIT commands over $55 billion — also well over half of the $90.89 billion in total net assets across all spot BTC ETFs trading in the U.S., per SoSoValue.
After a multi-day net outflow streak, Ethereum ETFs saw net inflows over the past two trading days, recording over $57 million in inflows yesterday, March 11.
Meanwhile, today, spot ETH is trading just over $2,060 at publishing time, per data from The Defiant’s price tracker.
Despite ETH stagnating in a tight range in recent months, the amount of ETH staked on the network continues to break new highs, reaching over 37.6 million ETH as of March 11.
This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.