BlackRock’s Staked Ethereum ETF Pulls $15.5 Million in First-Day Volume

BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum ETF (ETHB) pulled $15.5 million in trading volume on its Nasdaq debut, marking the asset manager’s first crypto fund with staking.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager and already operates two crypto ETFs, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).

Why it matters:

• ETHB’s debut trailed that of Solana staking ETFs, which recorded much higher volumes on debut days.
• The fund’s fee waiver signals a notable strategy to attract capital.
• A staking component in a BlackRock ETF could accelerate institutional participation in ETH yield strategies.

The details:

• Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart called ETHB’s opening performance “very, very solid for a day 1 ETF launch.”
• ETHB carries a 0.25% sponsor fee, cut to 0.12% for the first year on assets up to $2.5 billion.
• Bitwise Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) drew $56 million on its October debut.
• BSOL attracted roughly $417 million in its first week of trading.
• REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF (SSK) recorded $33.7 million in first-day volume at its July launch.

The big picture: