Smart Money Still Selling Ethereum? Futures CVD Shows $5.7B Bearish Pressure
March 14, 2026
Three institutional-grade validator firms — Figment, Galaxy Digital, and Attestant — will run the Ethereum network nodes that power BlackRock’s newest crypto product, the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust.
The fund launched Thursday on Nasdaq under the ticker ETHB, giving everyday investors a regulated way to hold Ether and collect staking rewards without managing a crypto wallet.
A First Day On The Books
Trading volume on the debut came in at roughly $15.5 million, based on Nasdaq data showing just under 593,000 shares changed hands.
Source: Nasdaq
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart called it “very, very solid” for a first-day product launch. That said, ETHB fell short of two comparable Solana staking funds that hit the market in the past year — the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF pulled in $55.4 million when it debuted in October, while the REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF recorded $33.7 million on its first day of trading.
📣We are officially staked📣
ETHB combines ether exposure and monthly income potential through the convenience of an exchange-traded product, offering investors a familiar way to get exposure to crypto and potentially benefit from staking rewards.
Learn more about ETHB ⏩… pic.twitter.com/41iKKaDqoD
— iShares (@iShares) March 12, 2026
BlackRock entered Thursday’s session with $106.7 million already in the fund. Coinbase holds custody of the assets. The structure is split roughly 80% staked Ether and 20% unstaked Ether, according to the firm’s product page. Staking rewards will be paid out once a month.
The fund targets an annualized yield of around 4%, generated by locking up ETH tokens on the Ethereum blockchain through validators. Those validators — Figment, Galaxy Digital, and Bitwise-owned Attestant — process transactions on the network and earn rewards in return, which are then passed to fund shareholders.
Vast majority of the trading is done and we are at $15.5 million in trading volume for the BlackRock staked Ethereum ETF — $ETHB. Very very solid for a day 1 ETF launch https://t.co/5f9VeA9ivq pic.twitter.com/MpwRqeHnwU
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) March 12, 2026
Fees And The Fine Print
ETHB carries a 0.25% sponsor fee, but BlackRock is waiving it down to 0.12% on the first $2.5 billion in assets under management for the first year. That kind of introductory pricing is a common tactic among ETF issuers looking to pull in early investors before competing products arrive.
The launch expands BlackRock’s crypto lineup, which already includes two of the biggest funds in the space. Reports from data firm Farside Investors show the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF has drawn close to $63 billion in net inflows since its 2024 debut, while the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF has pulled in almost $12 billion in the same period.
What Comes Next For BlackRock’s Crypto Push
ETHB is not the only new product BlackRock has in motion. The firm has also filed for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, which would sell covered call options on Bitcoin futures and collect premiums to generate yield for investors.
The staked Ethereum fund adds a yield component that the existing ETHA does not offer. Whether that distinction attracts fresh capital — or simply shifts money from one BlackRock ETH product to another — will become clearer in the weeks ahead as cumulative inflow data starts to build.
Featured image from Fortune, chart from TradingView
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