How BlackRock’s new staked Ethereum ETF is already raking in ‘very solid’ $16m

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BlackRock’s newest Ethereum exchange-traded fund launched on Thursday and is a big hit.

The iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF saw close to $16 million in trading volume after debuting with $100 million in assets under management, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart.

“Very very solid for a Day One ETF launch,” he said on X.

The ETF marks BlackRock’s latest bet on Ethereum. The $14 trillion asset manager has celebrated the second-largest cryptocurrency as an anchor for the next era of tokenisation and institutional blockchain infrastructure.

BlackRock’s deepening exposure — from new ETF products to equity stakes in Ethereum treasury firms such as Bitmine — reinforces its long-term thesis that blockchain finance will run on Ethereum rails.

Yet, the digital asset is still struggling despite BlackRock’s vote of confidence. While Ethereum’s price enjoyed a 2.3% surge over the past 24 hours, it remains well below its August peak of $4,950.

What is ETHB?

BlackRock’s new fund has the ticker ETHB. It gives investors exposure to Ether within a traditional brokerage account while allowing them to capture staking rewards — a key differentiator from earlier spot Ethereum ETFs.

Rather than merely tracking price, the fund participates in Ethereum’s proof-of-stake mechanism, generating yield from validating transactions on the network. For institutional allocators, that income stream enhances the asset’s appeal.

“Ethereum is very clearly a technology centred bet around blockchain innovation,” Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, said on CNBC Television. “For a lot of investors, being able to capture some additional yield is a point of attraction.”

BlackRock’s ETF leverages infrastructure developed with Coinbase Prime, combining institutional-grade custody with crypto-native staking mechanics. In effect, it packages blockchain economics in a familiar wrapper for Wall Street.

BlackRock pushes tokenisation

The ETF debut sits within a much grander thesis.

BlackRock argues that Ethereum will lead the tokenisation of real-world assets, the process of representing ownership of stocks, bonds, real estate or funds as blockchain-based tokens. In its 2026 outlook, the firm highlighted Ethereum’s dominant share of tokenised assets, far ahead of rival networks.

In January, CEO Larry Fink described tokenisation as “necessary,” arguing that migrating financial plumbing onto blockchain rails reduces friction, cuts fees and improves transparency. Speaking at Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum, he said a common blockchain could modernise a financial system still running on decades-old software.

Wall Street is also moving accordingly. JPMorgan selected Ethereum for its first tokenised money market fund. Goldman Sachs disclosed more than $1 billion in Ethereum ETF holdings.

On Monday, Castle Labs, a crypto research and advisory firm, argued tokenised stocks are transitioning from a fringe experiment into full-fledged institutional infrastructure, driven by platforms like Ondo, retail-oriented ecosystems such as xStocks, and advanced derivatives venues including Hyperliquid.

The core attraction, Castle Labs argues, is round-the-clock trading: an investor can short Tesla after midnight, leverage Nvidia holdings without opening a traditional brokerage account, gain exposure to companies before they list publicly, or deploy collateral into decentralised finance vaults to generate yield.

Not just BlackRock

Bitmine, an Ethereum treasury firm, plans to roll out its Made-in-America Validator Network in the first quarter of 2026, a US-based staking platform built to support and secure its vast holdings.

MAVAN is designed to internalise staking operations, reduce third-party dependence, and provide compliant, institutional-grade infrastructure, the firm says. The initiative marks a shift from aggressive accumulation to systematic yield generation, targeting sustainable shareholder returns through large-scale staking.

On Tuesday, Bitmine reported buying another $120 million in Ethereum now holds just over $9 billion, with $6 billion of that staked, making it the largest Ether treasury in the world.

Chair Tom Lee is one of Ethereum’s most prominent supporters, predicting $250,000 per token.

In the short term, however, analysts are not as optimistic. In early February, Standard Chartered’s Global Head of Digital Asset Research, Geoffrey Kendrick, cut his end-of-year forecast for Ethereum’s price to $4,000. He had previously estimated that it would hit $7,500 before 2027.