BlackRock Launches Its New Staked Ethereum Fund — And Investors Can Now Earn Monthly Rewards

The world’s largest investment firm, BlackRock, just launched something big. On March 12, 2026, it started a brand new fund on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The fund is called the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust. Its trading name on the stock market is ETHB.

This is a huge step forward for the crypto world. For the first time, everyday investors can now buy into Ethereum and earn monthly rewards, all through a regular brokerage account, just like buying any stock.

What Is This Fund?

ETHB is what is known as an Exchange Traded Fund, or a fund you can buy and sell on the stock market like a regular share. But this one is different from most funds. It holds real Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. And it goes one step further. It puts that Ethereum to work on the blockchain network to earn staking rewards.

Staking is a process where Ethereum is used to help run and secure the blockchain network. In return, the network pays out rewards. Think of it like putting your money in a savings account and earning interest, but with Ethereum instead of cash.

How Much Can Investors Earn?

The Ethereum network currently pays around 3.1% per year in staking rewards. After BlackRock and its partner Coinbase take their fees, investors get back around 82% of all the rewards earned. That means investors can expect a net return of around 1.9% to 2.2% per year, paid out every single month.

The fund charges a small yearly fee of 0.25%. But for the first year, and for the first 2.5 billion dollars in the fund, BlackRock cut that fee in half to just 0.12%. This makes it a very low-cost way to earn returns on Ethereum.

A Strong Start on Day One

The fund started strong. On its very first day of trading, it recorded more than 15 million dollars in trading volume. The fund also launched with over 100 million dollars in starting assets.

James Seyffart, an analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence, called this a “very, very solid Day One” for the new fund. Investors and market watchers clearly agreed — the demand was real from the start.

Why Did BlackRock Build This Fund?

Jay Jacobs, BlackRock’s head of equity funds in the United States, explained it simply. He said:

“This is really about investor choice. Some investors who already hold Ethereum directly were staking it and were not ready to move into an Exchange Traded Fund because they would lose that feature.”

In simple words, many people who own Ethereum were already earning rewards by staking it themselves. But when they moved into older Ethereum funds, they lost those rewards. This new fund solves that problem. Now they can have both — the safety of a managed fund and the rewards from staking.

Robert Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, added that:

“For a lot of investors, being able to capture some additional yield is a point of attraction.“

How Does the Staking Work?

The fund works with Coinbase Prime, a large and trusted digital asset platform. Between 70% and 95% of the fund’s Ethereum is staked on the network at any given time. Coinbase takes a 10% cut of all staking rewards it processes. BlackRock keeps its own fee. After that, the rest of the rewards go directly to the investors every month.

Brian Armstrong, the Chief Executive Officer of Coinbase, reacted warmly to the launch. He wrote online that BlackRock is “making crypto more accessible through familiar, trusted platforms.”

What Made This Fund Possible?

Two important things changed that made this fund a reality.

First, the United States government passed a new law called the GENIUS Act in July 2025. This law set clear rules for how digital asset products that earn yield can work. Without it, a fund like this would not have been allowed.

Second, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission — the government body that watches over investment products — approved the fund without any problem. Under the previous leadership, staking was blocked from Exchange Traded Fund products. Under the current leadership of Paul Atkins, the approval went through smoothly.

How Big Is BlackRock in Crypto Now?

This is BlackRock’s third crypto fund. Its first two were:

• IBIT — a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund that now holds more than 55 billion dollars in assets
• ETHA — a regular Ethereum Exchange Traded Fund that holds around 6.5 billion dollars in assets

Together with other crypto-related products, BlackRock now manages more than 130 billion dollars in digital asset products. In 2025 alone, the company captured around 95% of all money that flowed into digital asset Exchange Traded Products across the United States.

What Does This Mean for Ethereum?

This fund could have a big effect on Ethereum’s price and supply. When Ethereum is staked, it is locked away and cannot be sold or moved for a period of time. The more Ethereum that gets locked into this fund, the less Ethereum is available on the open market.

If the ETHB fund grows to match the older ETHA fund — which already holds 6.5 billion dollars — a very large amount of Ethereum will be taken off the market. Less supply, with the same or growing demand, can push prices higher. This is something many Ethereum investors are watching closely.

What Should Regular Investors Know?

There are a few important things to keep in mind before investing in this fund.

A 1.9% yearly return is modest. United States 10-year government bonds currently pay more than this. So it is not a huge income-generating investment on its own.

There is also a risk called slashing. This happens when a validator — a computer that helps run the Ethereum network — breaks the rules. When that happens, the network can take away a small portion of the staked Ethereum as a penalty. BlackRock has put safeguards in place to reduce this risk, but it does exist.

Still, for investors who already believe in Ethereum and want to earn something extra while they hold it, this fund offers a clean, simple, and low-cost way to do that — through a regular stock market account.

The Bigger Picture

The launch of this fund is about more than just one product. It shows how far the crypto market has come.

Just a few years ago, large banks and investment firms refused to touch cryptocurrency. Today, the world’s biggest investment company is launching its third crypto fund and offering monthly rewards to investors.

Other asset managers are expected to follow BlackRock’s lead. Filings for staking-based funds for other cryptocurrencies like Solana and Cardano are already in front of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The door is now wide open.