BlackRock aims to include staking in its spot Ethereum ETF, according to a rules change request it filed with the SEC.
BlackRock stated its aim to include staking in its spot Ethereum exchange-traded fund, according to a rules change request Nasdaq submitted on Thursday to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nasdaq lists the fund.
Adding staking functionality to the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) would allow the product, which debuted last July, to earn yield by using the held ETH to validate transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, according to the 19b-4 proposal.
Multiple issuers, including Fidelity, Grayscale, and 21Shares, are also seeking to include staking in their funds. The SEC will issue decisions in October on similar staking requests that Cboe and the NYSE submitted.. It has an April deadline to weigh in on ETHA, although Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart wrote in an X post Thursday that he doubted “it will take that long for a potential approval.”
Seyffart also wrote, “We think staking will likely gain approval by at least 4Q25.”
Industry Divided Over Staking: Rewards vs. Risks
The feature has been controversial; proponents say it would increase returns, while critics raise concerns about security vulnerabilities and market manipulation.
Prospectuses for ETHA and the other eight Ethereum funds currently trading indicated the products would not include staking. However, the 19b-4 filing now proposes deleting that passage and adding new language to allow for it.
The new language states, “In consideration for any staking activity the Trust may engage in, the Trust would receive all or a portion of the staking rewards the staking provider generates, which it may treat as income to the Trust.”
BlackRock’s Ethereum fund has been the most successful in this category, generating more than $7 billion in net inflows, more than double the total of any other, according to UK asset manager Farside Investors. It was recently trading at just below $26, up nearly 1% as of the close of trading Thursday.
Ethereum ETFs have surged in recent weeks, as investors added more than $2.2 billion in net investments over a nine-day streak. On Wednesday, they hit a record daily high with $726.6 million in inflows, including nearly $500 million from ETHA alone.
