BlackRock’s new staked ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund got off to a solid start Friday, pulling in more than $15 million in trading volume on its first day as Wall Street begins experimenting with yield-generating crypto ETFs.

The iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, trading under the ticker ETHB, launched with just over $100 million in assets and had already seen about $11 million in trading by early afternoon, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart. By late session, trading volume had climbed to roughly $15.5 million, suggesting strong initial demand for the product.

Those numbers are considered strong for an ETF launch, market watchers say.

“BlackRock’s Staked Ether ETF launched with just over $100 million in assets and has traded about $11.1 million through early afternoon,” Seyffart said on X, calling it “a pretty good start for any ETF.”

The product marks a significant evolution in crypto exchange-traded funds. Unlike traditional spot crypto ETFs that simply track the underlying asset, ETHB will generate yield by staking ethereum, distributing most of the rewards back to investors. Staking refers to locking coins in a cryptocurrency network in return for rewards. This is losely analogous to investing in fixed income instruments like bonds.

According to the prospectus, the fund will stake between 70% and 95% of its ether holdings at any given time. About 82% of the staking rewards will be paid out to investors through monthly distributions, similar to how dividend-paying ETFs distribute income.

The remaining 18% will be allocated among the trust, custodians and staking service providers.

The fund charges a 0.25% sponsor fee, though BlackRock is offering a temporary discounted rate of 0.12% on the first $2.5 billion in assets as it seeks to attract early investors.

ETHB is the latest addition to BlackRock’s growing digital assets ETF lineup. The firm already runs the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which launched in January 2024 and quickly became the dominant bitcoin ETF, as well as the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) introduced in July 2024.

Ethereum’s staking mechanism allows holders to lock up ETH to help secure the network in exchange for rewards, effectively creating a crypto-native yield. By packaging that yield inside an ETF wrapper, firms like BlackRock are attempting to make the structure accessible to traditional investors who cannot easily participate directly on-chain.

If staking ETFs gain traction, they may open the door to similar structures across other proof-of-stake networks — potentially turning crypto ETFs from passive exposure vehicles into income-generating financial instruments.

The crypto market rose 2.4% to $2.51 trillion on Friday primarily due to a shift in global risk sentiment following signals of potential de-escalation in the Middle East.

Bitcoin (BTC), the leading crypto asset by market cap, rallied nearly 4%, hitting close to the $72,000 mark. Ethereum (ETH) was up 4.3% over the past day, trading at $2,100 when writing. Other major crypto assets, such as BNB (BNB), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE), had also posted modest gains on the day.

It should be noted that today’s market rally was a standalone event as it detached from both the U.S. traditional stock indexes and tech stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 739 points or 1.56% in U.S. trading hours, while tech-heavy stocks such as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 fell by 103 and 431 points, respectively.

The crypto market rallied as Investor risk-on sentiment improved after oil prices dropped sharply across the globe. Notably, Brent crude oil fell over 7% today, easing immediate fears of inflation and providing a more favorable environment for digital assets.

Short liquidations mount

As crypto prices rallied, it caught short sellers off guard, triggering liquidations of these highly leveraged positions. Data from CoinGlass shows that nearly $246 million was liquidated from leveraged markets, with the majority coming from short positions.

The total crypto market open interest also rose 5.2% on Friday, signalling that investors were injecting fresh capital into the market.

ETF inflows and Coinbase premium

Inflows into spot ETF products have also supported the recent gains. According to data from SoSoValue, on Thursday, $53.87 had entered spot Bitcoin ETFs, which marks the fourth straight day of inflows for these funds. A similar trend was visible across their Ethereum counterparts, which have posted three back-to-back days of inflows.

At the same time, Coinbase Premium has also risen sharply over the past 24 hours, indicating that U.S. institutions are paying a premium over global prices to secure Bitcoin. Traders often view this as a strong bullish signal that institutional “smart money” is leading the current market charge.

Crypto market rallied following Trump’s recent comments

Crypto prices also benefited after U.S. President Donald Trump recently hinted that the ongoing war between the two countries may be coming to an end. 

This seemed to have calmed investor fears of a prolonged war, which in turn sparked a risk-on sentiment among investors who have begun moving capital from safe havens back into risk assets like crypto.

The Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) says it will push the US Federal Reserve to change how Bitcoin is treated, as the central bank is set to issue rules on how banks should implement international guidelines for asset risk weighting.

“BPI will be reviewing this proposal closely and submitting a public comment to ensure that US regulators get Bitcoin’s treatment right,” Bitcoin Policy Institute managing director Conner Brown said in an X post on Wednesday. 

It comes just a day after the Fed announced it will issue a proposal for public comment on how US banks should implement risk-weighting guidance, which determines how risky different assets are on a bank’s balance sheet, from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

Brown said Bitcoin (BTC) is “treated as a toxic asset under the Basel framework, a global standard for banking regulations.

He added it carries a 1,250% risk weighting, which was “harsher than virtually all other asset classes.” 

“More efficient regulation” is the aim: Fed

Federal Reserve vice chair for supervision Michelle Boman said on Thursday that the agency will be proposing rules in the coming weeks to implement the final phase of Basel in the US.

Bowman said that the aim is “more efficient regulation and banks that are better [positioned] to support economic growth, while preserving safety and soundness.” 

The 1,250% capital requirement means that banks must back any Bitcoin on their balance sheets at a 1:1 ratio with approved collateral, making holding the cryptocurrency more costly than other asset classes. 

Cash, physical gold and government debt carry a 0% risk weight under the Basel framework.

“The most punitive classification”: Bitcoin Policy Institute

Brown said in a blog post last month that the treatment of Bitcoin is the “most punitive classification” in the Basel Committee’s capital framework and a “category error.”

Related: Bitcoin hugs $70K range as March Fed rate cut odds fall below 1%

In 2021, the Basel Committee proposed placing crypto in its high-risk Group 2 set of assets. Group 2 holdings were restricted to under 1% of the value of their Group 1 holdings.

“This risk weighting makes it extremely difficult for banks to provide financial services to Bitcoiners and Bitcoin companies,” Brown said.

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