ETHB Emerges as a Favorite Among Ethereum ETFs
Sumit RoySat, August 29, 2026 at 7:41 AM GMT+3 3 min read
Crypto has come roaring back in recent weeks, but the rally hasn't been enough to erase what's still been a rough year. Even after the bounce, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) is down 11.6% in 2026 and the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) has fallen 18.1%. Net inflows into US-listed spot crypto ETFs have been meager too, at just $565 million so far this year.
Look beneath the surface, though, and something interesting is happening. One fund, BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB), has been pulling in money faster than any other Ethereum product on the market.
Since launching in March, ETHB has gathered more than $650 million, dwarfing the $85 million that has flowed into ETHA this year.
ETHA currently holds about $8.6 billion in assets, while ETHB sits at roughly $872 million.
The Difference Is Staking
The two funds are nearly identical on paper. Both track the price of ether and both charge a 0.25% expense ratio. The one meaningful difference is staking.
Staking is the process by which holders lock up their ether to help validate transactions on the Ethereum network, earning rewards in return. It lets investors collect a yield on their crypto while contributing to the network's security.
ETHA simply holds ether. ETHB stakes between 70% and 95% of its holdings (currently around 77%) and pays the resulting rewards out to shareholders as cash each month. BlackRock keeps 18% of the rewards as a fee.
Currently, the ETF's net rewards rate sits around 1.72% based on the issuer's latest 30-day figure. On a total return basis, since ETHB began trading, it is up about 18%, edging out ETHA's 17.5% over the same stretch, with the staking income accounting for the difference.
Not the First, but Gathering the Fastest
ETHB wasn't the first US-listed Ethereum ETF to offer staking. Grayscale beat BlackRock to it last October, activating the feature on the Grayscale Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHE) and the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF (ETH).
ETHE, which charges 2.5%, distributes its rewards as cash the way ETHB does, while ETH, at just 0.15%, retains the rewards and folds them back into the fund, increasing the ether backing each share.
ETHA remains the largest US-listed Ethereum ETF, followed by Grayscale's ETH at $2.2 billion, Grayscale's ETHE at $1.9 billion, and the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH) at $1.4 billion.
But if ETHB's category-leading inflows continue, it could quickly climb the ranks.
Why Two Funds?
The obvious question is why BlackRock built a separate fund rather than simply adding staking to ETHA. Part of the answer is that not every investor wants the added risk. Staking introduces the possibility of slashing, a penalty in which a validator loses part of its staked ether for misbehaving or suffering a technical failure.
Over time, though, if staking proves safe and reliable in institutional hands, staking-enabled funds should out-earn those that merely hold ether. That extra yield could make them the default choice, and ETHB's early flows suggest a good number of investors have already decided it is.
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