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Ethereum (ETH) Sees Major Whale Buying as BlackRock Launches Staked ETF Product

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Ethereum (ETH) Price

Quick Overview

  • BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) entered the market with $15.5M first-day trading activity
  • The new ETF began operations with $106.7M in net assets, charging a 0.25% fee (discounted to 0.12% during year one)
  • Large Ethereum holders have accumulated approximately $480M in ETH throughout March, increasing profitable positions
  • ETH maintains position above $2,080 with $2,000 serving as critical support
  • Clearing $2,150 resistance could trigger an advance toward $2,800 price target

The world’s largest asset manager has introduced its staked Ethereum exchange-traded fund, expanding institutional crypto investment options. Simultaneously, significant accumulation by major holders and developing technical formations are capturing trader attention.

 

BlackRock introduced the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) on Nasdaq this Thursday. The investment vehicle generated

Ethereum (ETH) Price
Ethereum (ETH) Price

$15.5 million in first-day activity, with 592,804 shares traded. Bloomberg’s ETF specialist James Seyffart described the launch as exceptionally strong for an inaugural trading session.

The trading activity trailed behind two similar Solana-focused staking products. Bitwise’s Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) achieved $55.4 million during its October debut, while the REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF (SSK) generated $33.7 million at its July launch.

ETHB commenced operations holding $106.7 million in net assets secured through Coinbase custody. The product allocates 80% to staked Ether and 20% to unstaked Ether. It aims to deliver approximately 4% annual staking returns, with monthly reward distributions via validators operated by Figment, Galaxy Digital, and Attestant.

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The fund implements a 0.25% annual fee, though this drops to 0.12% throughout the first year on initial assets up to $2.5 billion.

BlackRock Expands Digital Asset Offerings

ETHB represents another addition to BlackRock’s cryptocurrency portfolio. The firm’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) has accumulated more than $62.8 billion in investor capital since its 2024 debut. Meanwhile, the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) has gathered $11.9 billion during the same timeframe.

BlackRock is additionally developing a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF designed to generate returns through covered call options on Bitcoin futures contracts.

Ethereum Price Action and Large Holder Accumulation

Ethereum has declined approximately 3% across the previous seven days but maintained its position above the $2,000 threshold. For the year, ETH has dropped roughly 30%.

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supply held by eth whales
Source: Santiment

Blockchain analytics from Santiment reveal that major holders have acquired around 240,000 ETH tokens, valued near $480 million, since early March. During this accumulation period, the proportion of Ethereum tokens showing unrealized gains climbed from 39.8% to 42.3%.

Market volumes have contracted lately, which market observers suggest may signal diminishing selling momentum.

Ethereum currently changes hands above $2,080, positioned above its 100-hour Simple Moving Average. Initial resistance appears around $2,135, followed by $2,150. A decisive move past $2,150 could initiate momentum toward $2,220 and possibly $2,320.

Should the price slip below $2,050, support zones emerge at $2,000, followed by $1,950, with a critical foundation near $1,920.

A technical buy indication emerged on the hourly timeframe during Thursday’s U.S. trading hours, though market watchers emphasize that a validated breakout above key resistance would strengthen the signal before considering aggressive entries.

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Crypto World

BlackRock Launches iShares Staked Ethereum Trust With 82% Rewards

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The new BlackRock Ethereum staking ETF has shaken the markets up, leading to ETH USD surging +2.8% on the back of the news

Investors have paid fees to hold Ethereum in ETFs for years while leaving the network’s native yield on the table, and that inefficiency disappeared this morning when BlackRock turned Ethereum into a productive asset for Wall Street by entering the staking race.

For the first time in US market history, the world’s largest asset manager is offering a product that captures both price appreciation and the network’s validator rewards. Now investors don’t have to choose between holding and earning, both are on the table.

This news comes as the Ethereum price surged +2.8% overnight and is currently trading back above $2,100 as we head into the weekend.

The total crypto market cap is also up, climbing +2% over the past 24 hours and reclaiming the crucial $2.5 trillion level in the process.

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The new BlackRock Ethereum staking ETF has shaken the markets up, leading to ETH USD surging +2.8% on the back of the news
SOURCE: CoinGecko

BlackRock Enters the Staking Race: ETHB Launches on Nasdaq

BlackRock officially launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) on the Nasdaq exchange today. The product is distinct from the firm’s existing iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), which holds over $6.5Bn in assets but serves strictly as a passive price tracker.

This new vehicle intends to stake between 70% and 95% of its ether holdings to generate yield. However, the fee structure is aggressive. While the standard sponsor fee is set at 0.25%, BlackRock has implemented a promotional waiver that reduces the cost to 0.12%.

This rate applies to the first $2.5Bn in Net Asset Value (NAV) or for the first 12 months of trading, whichever threshold is breached first.

Jessica Tan, Head of Americas for iShares, positioned the launch as a direct response to client demand for products that reflect the full economic reality of the asset class.

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The trust joins a BlackRock digital asset platform that now oversees approximately $130Bn in assets, cementing the firm’s dominance in the digital asset ETF space.

DISCOVER: Next Crypto to Explode in 2026

The BlackRock Ethereum Institutional Pivot: Yield is No Longer Optional

This launch signals that institutional adoption has moved beyond simple exposure. Until recently, regulatory friction prevented US issuers from including staking mechanics in exchange-traded products, forcing investors to choose between the safety of an ETF and the yield of direct ownership. That choice is no longer binary.

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The arrival of ETHB suggests that regulators are increasingly comfortable with the technical nuances of proof-of-stake blockchains. Recent coordination between the SEC and CFTC has likely smoothed the path for these more complex structured products.

For allocators, the implications are mathematical: holding ample ETH without staking it is now a decision to accept underperformance relative to the benchmark.

Competitors like Fidelity and Grayscale are now on the defensive. With BlackRock successfully packaging staking rewards into a 0.12% fee product, the pressure to upgrade existing spot ETFs into staking-enabled vehicles will be immediate. The market standard for an Ethereum product has just been raised.

Supply Dynamics: The Scarcity Squeeze for ETH USD

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SOURCE: TradingView

The launch of ETHB introduces a new demand sink for the Ethereum network. Unlike spot ETFs, which simply hold coins in cold storage, staking ETFs lock those coins into the validator network. This reduces the actively circulating supply available for trading.

If capital rotates aggressively from the BlackRock Ethereum ETHA product to its new ETHB staking fund, or if new money enters specifically for the yield, the percentage of ETH locked in staking contracts will rise.

This aligns with broader market trends where Ethereum’s scarcity index is already turning positive. A successful ETHB launch accelerates this dynamic by institutionalizing the lock-up process.

With ETH USD facing immediate resistance at $2,150, the launch of BlackRock’s new Ethereum staking ETF could send it surging straight to the next target at around $2,400.

EXPLORE: Best Crypto Presales to Buy in 2026

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Vitalik Buterin Questions AI Strategy of Group He Funded

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Vitalik Buterin Questions AI Strategy of Group He Funded

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said Friday that he is no longer closely aligned with the Future of Life Institute, a group that received SHIB tokens from him in 2021. 

Buterin said the institute originally pitched him a broad roadmap for reducing existential risks, including those tied to artificial intelligence, biology and nuclear threats, along with wider pro-peace and pro-epistemics initiatives. He said that helped motivate the Shiba Inu (SHIB) donation.

Buterin said the institute later moved toward cultural and political advocacy around AI risks, an approach he described as materially different from the strategy outlined when he donated.

“My worry is that large-scale coordinated political action with big money pools is a thing that can easily lead to unintended outcomes, cause backlashes, and solve problems in a way that is both authoritarian and fragile, even if it was not originally intended that way,” he wrote.

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Buterin expresses disagreements to FLI’s current approach

The FLI describes its mission as reducing extreme risks and steering transformative technologies to benefit humanity.

“We need policies to help ensure that AI development improves lives everywhere – rather than merely boosts corporate profits,” the organization states on its website. 

Source: FLI

However, Buterin said some of the group’s proposals focus on placing safeguards in biosynthesis devices and AI models so that they refuse to produce harmful outputs.

“I view this as a very fragile solution: there are many ways to jailbreak, fine-tune or otherwise get around such restrictions,” he added. 

Cointelegraph reached out to the FLI for comments, but had not received a response by publication.

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Related: Vitalik says ‘at present’ his donations yield better gains than investments

FLI cashed out $500 million from the SHIB donation

In 2021, Buterin received large amounts of SHIB tokens and other dog-themed tokens as developers attempted to use his name as a marketing tactic. He later allocated some of those tokens to charitable causes.