Investors Favor BlackRock’s $9B ETHA Over New Staked ETHB

BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) held about $8.96 billion in net assets on Sept. 11, while the newer iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) held roughly $1.05 billion, BlackRock fund data show. On that day, estimated secondary-market share turnover was about $1.86 billion for ETHA and $61.8 million for ETHB.

BlackRock reported 30-day median bid-ask spreads of 0.05% for ETHA and 0.06% for ETHB as of Sept. 11. The larger daily share turnover for ETHA indicates deeper secondary-market liquidity in the older fund.

Daily flows in early September showed mixed movement. Both funds recorded no net flows on Sept. 8 and attracted capital on Sept. 9. On Sept. 10 ETHA had net outflows while ETHB saw net inflows; on Sept. 11 ETHA recorded $148.8 million of net inflows and ETHB $18.3 million, Farside Investors data show. ETF creation and redemption records do not show whether money leaving one fund was redeployed into the other.

ETHB began earning staking rewards in May and listed a distribution of $0.036487 per share payable on Sept. 10. As of Sept. 10, about 75.85% of ETHB’s ether was classified as staked and roughly 24.15% remained unstaked to provide liquidity for normal fund operations and redemptions.

Both funds carry a headline sponsor fee of 0.25% annually. ETHB has a temporary fee waiver that reduces the sponsor fee to 0.12% on its first $2.5 billion of assets for 12 months beginning March 12. Staking rewards are subject to an aggregate staking fee of 10% of gross staking consideration, which is deducted from the rewards themselves. Distributions from staking are not fixed; BlackRock can consider staking income received, legal requirements, and the fund’s operational needs when determining payments to shareholders.

ETHB’s prospectus includes special liquidity and redemption provisions that allow delayed settlement or cash-only redemptions under stressed conditions when staking exit times or available liquidity affect ordinary in-kind settlements.

Data to date show ETHA holding a much larger asset base and heavier daily trading, while ETHB has accumulated about $1 billion and is distributing staking income. If ETHB records sustained creations while ETHA records persistent redemptions, ETF flow data would indicate rotation between the products; current fund-level data do not confirm such a shift.