Written by: imToken

On March 12, 2026, Ethereum staking reached a historic moment.

BlackRock, the world's largest asset management company, has officially launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ticker symbol: ETHB) on Nasdaq. It not only holds Ethereum spot, but also uses most of its assets for on-chain staking and regularly distributes the returns to investors.

It can be said that after more than a year of discussion in the market, the launch of ETHB has essentially solved the core problem that has remained unresolved since the launch of the Ethereum spot ETF: whether ETH can be formally accepted by the mainstream financial system as an "interest-bearing asset"?

This also marks the formal entry of "staking," a behavior that was once a native on-chain user activity, into Wall Street's asset allocation framework.

1. What is ETHB and how does it work?

From the perspective of timing and market environment, the launch of BlackRock's ETHB can be described as perfectly timed and well-positioned.

On the one hand, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) currently manages over $55 billion in assets, and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) manages $6.5 billion in assets, demonstrating institutional acceptance of crypto asset ETFs. On the other hand, discussions and policy preparations surrounding whether to allow ETFs to participate in staking have been ongoing for over a year, from the United States to Hong Kong.

The biggest difference between ETHB and previous Ethereum spot ETFs such as ETHA is that it does not allow ETH to sit idle.

Traditional crypto ETFs operate on a very simple model: they typically buy ETH, hold it in custody, track price movements, and then do nothing. ETHB, however, introduces a key change: allowing the ETH assets held to participate in network consensus and generate returns.

It delegates 70% to 95% of its ETH holdings to professional validator nodes such as Figment through Coinbase Prime, allowing the assets to actively participate in the consensus maintenance of the Ethereum network and earn staking rewards.

To break down this mechanism in detail:

• Investors buy ETHB fund units;
• The fund used the raised capital to purchase spot ETH;
• Most of the ETH was staked;
• Of the rewards generated from pledging, approximately 82% is distributed monthly to fund holders, while the remaining 18% is retained by BlackRock and others as service fees.
• The fund also charges an annual management fee of 0.25% (with a preferential rate of 0.12% for the first 2.5 billion US dollars in assets).

This also demonstrates the core value of compound interest staking. Taking stETH as an example, after a user stakes ETH, the stETH token balance they receive will automatically increase with the staking rewards, without any manual operation. Every reward becomes part of the principal and continues to generate new returns.

We can do a similar calculation for ETHB – Ethereum’s current on-chain annualized staking yield is between 2.8% and 3.1%. Since the portion of ETHB allocated to investors is approximately 3.1% × 82%, the actual return after deducting management fees is approximately 2.3% to 2.5%.

Although the numbers may not seem high, the key is that it is a continuous, automatic, and predictable cash flow, which means that ordinary investors who purchase ETHB will also be able to enjoy compound interest from now on.

Of course, although ETHB distributes rewards monthly, if investors do not actively reinvest the distributed returns to purchase ETF shares, they will not be able to enjoy the compounding effect. This may give on-chain native staking a slight advantage in long-term returns.

II. Why is the emergence of ETHB so important?

The significance of ETHB goes far beyond the birth of a new fund.

As is well known, during the tenure of former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler, all Ethereum ETF applications were required to remove staking functionality, arguing that staking could constitute unregistered securities. With Gensler's departure and the appointment of new Chairman Paul Atkins, the regulatory stance shifted significantly, ultimately paving the way for the creation of ETHB.

BlackRock currently manages over $130 billion in crypto-related ETP assets, and its iShares series of products captured approximately 95% of the net inflows into global digital asset ETPs in 2025. When such a large institution incorporates "staking" into its product structure, it is sending a signal to the entire market that staking yields are a legitimate and sustainable source of investment returns.

Therefore, it is very likely that, similar to the situation after the Bitcoin ETF was approved, Ethereum, Solana and others will follow suit. After the issuance of ETHB, applications for staking ETFs on PoS networks such as Solana, Cardano, and Polkadot will also enter the review queue one after another, and all crypto asset ETF issuers will follow suit quickly.

We can even foresee that within the next six months, a large amount of funds from spot ETFs will flow back to income-generating ETFs.

In fact, as early as January of this year, Ethereum ETFs had already begun to test this area, allowing holders to receive interest periodically, just like holding securities. Grayscale's Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE) has already distributed staking rewards to existing shareholders, making it the first spot crypto asset trading product in the United States to distribute staking rewards to its holders.

While this may seem like a routine on-chain practice to Web3 Native users, it marks a significant milestone in the history of crypto finance, signifying that Ethereum's native revenue has been packaged within the standard framework of traditional finance for the first time.

It is important to emphasize that this does not mean that Ethereum staking has achieved full compliance, nor does it mean that regulators have given a unified interpretation of ETF staking services. However, in economic terms, a key change has occurred: for the first time, non-crypto native users have indirectly obtained the native benefits generated by Ethereum network consensus without needing to understand nodes, private keys, and on-chain operations.

From this perspective, Ethereum staking has taken a crucial step in gaining wider access to capital.

III. What's next?

Of course, not everyone will earn staking rewards by purchasing ETHB. For most crypto users, a more direct approach is to participate on-chain.

We still need to review the main Ethereum staking methods, which mainly consist of three paths.

The first option is native staking, but it requires users to stake at least 32 ETH and run an independent validator node. Therefore, although it offers the highest returns and is the most decentralized, it has a high barrier to entry and is more suitable for technically skilled users.

Secondly, there is the current mainstream liquidity staking, which currently has a total volume of nearly 15 million ETH and a total value of over $35 billion. Users can participate without needing 32 ETH through protocols such as Lido (stETH) and Rocket Pool (rETH).

Furthermore, after staking, you receive liquidity tokens that are pegged in proportion to your original assets, which you can continue to participate in DeFi activities, resulting in the most significant compounding effect.

Source: DeFiLlama

Of course, there is also node staking, which mainly involves participating directly through wallets that support staking. It is simple to operate and suitable for non-technical users, but it also places higher demands on wallets and other supporting infrastructure.

Overall, the launch of BlackRock's ETHB is a significant milestone in Ethereum staking, marking its transition from a "native on-chain activity" to a "mainstream financial product." It validates the legitimacy of staking rewards and accelerates the inflow of institutional capital into the ETH ecosystem.

But for ordinary cryptocurrency holders, the more important signal is that staking, as a way to keep assets working, has been recognized by the world's largest asset management institutions.

When ETH begins to automatically generate interest, the pricing logic of the asset changes accordingly. It is no longer just a speculative asset waiting to appreciate, but a "yield machine" that can continuously generate cash flow. Whether through ETFs or on-chain staking, this trend is irreversible.

And you, are you ready to get your ETH working?