BlackRock’s staked Ethereum exchange-traded fund (ETF) has recorded a remarkable $15.5 million in trading volume on its inaugural day. Market experts have praised this performance, indicating that it is a strong start, albeit it does not reach the levels seen by similar staking products for Solana launched last year.

According to Nasdaq data, the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) saw 592,804 shares traded, with Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noting on X that the product managed to turn over approximately $15.5 million.

“Very, very solid for a day 1 ETF launch,” Seyffart remarked.

The ETF focuses on investing in and staking Ether (ETH), which involves locking the tokens on the blockchain to earn yields. It is operated by network validators, typically providing a 4% annual yield.

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Source: James Seyffart

The $15.5 million trading volume on its debut is notably less than other staking funds, such as the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF, which achieved $55.4 million when it began trading and another fund, the REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF, with $33.7 million on its first day.

ETHB is part of BlackRock’s expanding range of crypto products, alongside its leading offerings, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA). The two ETFs have attracted substantial inflows since their launches in 2024, totaling over $62.8 billion for the Bitcoin ETF and $11.9 billion for Ethereum.

Moreover, BlackRock is eyeing the launch of a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, designed to sell covered call options on Bitcoin futures to generate additional yields.

ETHB is structured with 80% staked Ether and 20% liquid Ether, initiated with $106.7 million in net assets, which is being managed by Coinbase. Staking rewards are scheduled for monthly distribution, sourced from Ethereum validators operated by Figment, Galaxy Digital, and Bitwise-owned Attestant.

The fee for this ETF is set at 0.25% with a temporary waiver bringing it down to 0.12% for the first $2.5 billion in assets under management.