BlackRock Forms New Trust Amid Early Uptake of Staking-Focused Ethereum ETFs

In brief

• The trust’s registration marks an early procedural step but doesn’t signal an imminent SEC filing.
• New staking-enabled ETFs have begun trading, with early entrants like REX Osprey drawing modest assets.
• Grayscale’s October launch of staking features in its Ethereum products set the first regulated benchmark for passing rewards to shareholders.

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BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, registered a new Delaware statutory trust, the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, on Wednesday.

Delaware Division of Corporations records show that the trust was formed on November 19. The listing does not include product documentation, but the public entity record can be viewed directly through the state’s search portal.

Forming a Delaware statutory trust is a common early step for ETF issuers, particularly for commodity and crypto products.

The next stage typically involves filing a registration statement with the SEC, which can be an S-1 or another form depending on the fund structure.

The preparatory move, however, does not indicate that a filing is imminent. Decrypt has reached out to BlackRock and its registered agent for further information.

The registration comes as Ethereum staking ETFs have begun trading in the U.S., including the REX Osprey ETH + Staking ETF, which launched the first combined spot and staking-enabled Ethereum ETF in late September.

Grayscale, meanwhile, became the first U.S. issuer to add staking to an exchange-listed Ethereum product in October, following the SEC’s approval of generic crypto ETP listing standards, which enabled the firm to incorporate native staking into its Ethereum ETFs.

The move gave the market its earliest regulated benchmark for how staking yield could be passed through to shareholders.

Dedicated staking-focused Ethereum ETFs remain small. The REX-Osprey ETH + Staking ETF, for example, reported about $2.4 million in assets as of mid-November, with trading activity remaining light since its launch.

Earlier in July, BlackRock filed a rules-change request to allow additional staking functionality in its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).

New language in the proposed changes stated the trust would “receive all or a portion of the staking rewards” generated by the staking provider, adding that such rewards may be “treated as income to the Trust.”

In Ethereum, staking means locking up Ethereum while staked so the network can choose users to validate transactions, in return for earned rewards. It also affects the circulating supply, as staked Ethereum is not freely tradeable until it is withdrawn.

Staking remains a point of regulatory caution because it involves active participation in network validation and introduces operational, slashing, and custody risks that differ from simple asset holding.

Issuers seeking to stake inside a registered product have had to detail validator selection, liquidity management, custody segregation, and how rewards will be accounted for under securities rules.