On February 17, 2026, BlackRock filed an amended S-1 registration statement with the SEC, confirming the launch of the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ticker: ETHB). A BlackRock affiliate purchased 4,000 seed shares at $25 each, injecting $100,000 in initial capital to fund the trust’s first ether purchases.
This marks the concrete beginning of BlackRock’s long-anticipated staking-enabled Ethereum ETF, which will differentiate itself from the existing spot ETHA ETF (pure price exposure) by actively staking 70–95% of its ETH holdings under normal market conditions.
BlackRock becomes the latest major asset manager to enter the staking ETF space, following conditional OCC approvals for several crypto-native firms (Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets) in late 2025.
The move aligns with:
This positions ETHB as a potential flagship product for institutions seeking both ETH price exposure and staking yield within a regulated ETF wrapper.
BlackRock’s entry into staking ETFs signals continued institutional maturation of the Ethereum ecosystem and could become one of the most-watched ETF launches of 2026.
