BlackRock Launches Staked Ethereum ETF ETHB with the Lowest Fee and Strong Backing

Original author: KarenZ, Foresight News

On March 12, 2026, Nasdaq listed a unique crypto ETF: the staking-yield-enabled Ethereum trust ETF, "ETHB".

This is BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, the third cryptocurrency ETF launched by the world’s largest asset manager.

On its first day of listing, ETHB recorded approximately $15.5 million in trading volume, and on the second day (March 13), it reached approximately $76 million in trading volume. In terms of size, ETHB had a market cap of around $100 million at launch and currently stands at approximately $170 million.

It’s worth noting that many reports have labeled BlackRock’s ETHB as the “first Ethereum staking ETF in the United States.” But the interesting twist is that while it isn’t the first Ethereum staking ETF in the U.S., it is by far the most significant one.

To understand ETHB, you first need to understand Ethereum’s “staking” mechanism. After Ethereum completed its “Merge” in 2022, it transitioned to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism to secure the network.

Simply put: Lock your ETH into the network to help verify transactions, and the system will reward you—similar to interest on a deposit, except the rate is dynamically set by the network.

According to Ethereum Validator Queue data, the current annualized yield is 2.78%. While this figure may not seem impressive, it represents tangible additional returns for those already planning to hold ETH long-term. For institutional investors, this yield is far from negligible—missing out on staking rewards for Ethereum exposures worth hundreds of millions of dollars translates to real financial opportunity costs.

What ETHB does is formalize and productize this process, allowing retail investors to gain exposure to ETH’s price while earning this "interest" through their standard brokerage accounts—without needing to research how to stake or select validator nodes.

Breaking down the fee structure for ETHB, the first layer is the management fee, which is 0.25% annually, with a promotional discount of 0.12% during the first 12 months or the first $2.5 billion, whichever comes first. This aligns with ETHA’s 0.25% fee, but ETHA does not offer staking rewards to offset this cost.

This number looks reasonable, but the management fee is only the first layer of the fee structure.

Second is staking distribution. Of each staking reward, 82% is allocated to ETF holders, and the remaining 18% is paid as staking fees to the trust sponsor and the brokerage execution agent. The trust sponsor is iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, a subsidiary of BlackRock, and the brokerage execution agent is Coinbase Inc. After receiving this payment, Coinbase is responsible for distributing funds to downstream validator operators: Figment, Galaxy Digital, and Attestant.

The ETHB registration page states that 70% to 95% of ETH in holdings will be staked through the custodian Coinbase Custody Trust Company. As of the data on the official website as of March 12, 41,164 ETH were staked, representing an 80% staking ratio. However, after the scale expansion on the 13th, staking has not yet been actively completed, and the current staking ratio is 56%.

If you invest $100 with a staking ratio of 70%–95% and an annual yield of 2.78%, you will earn rewards of $1.95 to $2.64.

• First-layer fee: 18% staking fee, you receive 82% of the actual reward, approximately $1.60 to $2.17.
• Layer 2 fee: Surface management fee of $0.25 per $100 of total position, standard rate of 0.25%, promotional rate of 0.12%.

Final net yield:

• At standard rates: $1.60 – $0.25 = $1.35 to $2.17 – $0.25 = $1.92, corresponding to an annualized rate of 1.35%–1.92%.
• Promotional rate range: $1.60 – $0.12 = $1.48 to $2.17 – $0.12 = $2.05, corresponding to an annualized rate of 1.48%–2.05%

Therefore, after two layers of deductions, the actual annualized yield investors can receive ranges from approximately 1.35% to 2.05%, depending on the current staking ratio and whether a promotional period is active.

This is not an inexpensive product, but it provides a compliant channel to earn staking rewards without relying on node operators or managing your own private keys. For institutions operating within a regulated framework, this premium is justified.

When the spot Ethereum ETFs were approved in 2024, the SEC’s approval included a clear restriction: funds are prohibited from staking the ETH they hold. At the time, the regulatory rationale was that staking could constitute a securities offering. As a result, BlackRock’s ETHA holders are exposed solely to the price of ETH, without any additional staking rewards.

This restriction was eased in 2025. In May 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance clarifying that "staking activities on certain PoS blockchain protocols do not constitute securities transactions under federal securities laws," effectively opening a legal green light for Ethereum staking ETFs. Regulatory policies were subsequently further relaxed.

Before ETHB, two institutions had already launched Ethereum staking ETFs, taking a path distinctly different from BlackRock:

The REX-Osprey ETH + Staking ETF (ESK) is the first Ethereum staking ETF listed in the U.S., jointly launched by REX Shares and Osprey Funds on September 25, 2025, on the Cboe BZX Exchange.

Unlike IBIT, ETHA, and ETHB, which follow the path of the 1933 Act—filing S-1 registrations as commodity trusts or spot ETPs while simultaneously submitting 19b-4 rule change applications to exchanges, requiring dual approval before listing—ESK has chosen the framework of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “1940 Act”), the standard regulatory framework for traditional mutual funds and most stock and bond ETFs.

However, the '1940 Act' itself prohibits direct ownership of crypto assets. REX-Osprey’s solution is to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in the Cayman Islands (REX-Osprey ETH + Staking Cayman Portfolio S.P.), which holds ETH and executes staking operations; the main fund gains indirect exposure to Ethereum’s price and staking rewards through this subsidiary. This structure elegantly circumvents the SEC’s direct restrictions on commodity ETFs, enabling compliant implementation of staking functionality.

Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE) follows the path of "upgrading an existing product." Its predecessor, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust, was established in 2017 and converted into an ETF in 2024 following the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs; it is now listed on NYSE Arca and subject to the rules and regulations of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933.

ETHE activates staking by having NYSE Arca submit a Rule 19b-4 filing to the SEC, requesting permission to add staking functionality to the existing listed Ethereum ETP within its current framework. Amending the rules of an existing product is significantly faster than going through the full S-1 approval process for a new product. As a result, Grayscale activated staking approximately five months before BlackRock, in October 2025.

However, this "patchwork" approach comes at a cost: ETHE inherits the high fee structure established when it was a trust, with an annual management fee as high as 2.50%, significantly exceeding ETHB’s fees and resulting in substantially higher long-term holding costs.

BlackRock’s ETHB chose the third path: a completely new compliance filing—in December 2025, BlackRock submitted a new S-1 registration statement for ETHB to the SEC, while Nasdaq simultaneously filed a rule change application under Rule 19b-4, following the full new product approval process. Ultimately, ETHB completed approval in just about three months and successfully launched in March 2026.

BlackRock did not choose ESK’s “workaround” model or Grayscale’s “upgrade existing product” approach, but instead selected the most compliant, transparent, and institutionally suitable path. This choice delivers the direct advantage of the lowest fees— an annual management fee of 0.25% (0.12% during the promotional period), significantly lower than ETHE and superior to ESK, making it one of its core competitive advantages for attracting institutional investors.

ETHB was established under the framework of the Securities Act of 1933 and initially benefited from reduced disclosure requirements as an Emerging Growth Company (EGC), but is not subject to the Investment Company Act of 1940, operating under a completely different regulatory framework than ESK.

At the moment Ethereum switched from PoW to PoS, it became an asset that can generate yield through holding. However, for most participants in traditional finance, the operational barriers, custody risks, and compliance hurdles associated with directly staking ETH make this yield pathway practically inaccessible.

What ETHB does is package the on-chain behavior of staking into a container familiar to Wall Street.

For those who entered early with ESK and ETHE, this may be a moment to exercise caution.