BlackRock has finally filed to enable staking for its ETH ETFs

World-leading asset manager BlackRock has applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow staking for its spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF). Nasdaq filed the proposed rule change on July 17.

If approved, the firm can stake part or all of the ETH underlying its spot ETH ETF (ETHA) through any staking services providers. With the move, BlackRock has joined the list of spot ETH ETF issuers seeking SEC approval to allow staking.

While others, such as Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, 21Shares, and Grayscale, have already applied for the same permit, the move by BlackRock represents the biggest positive sign of potential approval of such products.

Efforts to allow staking for ETH ETFs and other altcoin ETFs have intensified since the Donald Trump administration started, and the SEC has changed its approach to many crypto issues, including Ethereum staking. This led to the regulator dropping staking-related lawsuits against Coinbase and Kraken.

Before now, the ETF issuers were forced to amend their filings and drop staking from their Ethereum ETF applications in 2024 after the Gary Gensler-led SEC flagged Ethereum staking, noting that it could be unregistered securities.

Fight for ETH staking in ETFs that are far from over

With BlackRock submitting its 19b-4 filing, many in the crypto industry believe that staking for ETFs is now a done deal. This is not surprising given the firm’s record of only one refusal by the SEC for all its ETF applications and over 500 approvals.

However, experts believe that the fight is not over yet. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart noted that there are several staking ETF filings before the SEC, and for earlier filings, the final deadline is late October. The final deadline for BlackRock’s filing is not until April 2026, but the analyst expects a decision from the regulator by Q4 of this year.

Seyffart said:

“Staking is not ‘done.’ There are plenty of ETH staking ETF filings already on the books. Final deadline for earlier filings is in late October. The Blackrock filing today won’t have a final deadline until ~April 2026 (but we think staking will likely be approved by at least 4Q25).”

Seyffart noted that the major challenge that staking ETF approval will face now is not from the SEC but rather from the Internal Revenue Service.  However, he did not go further into how this could be a problem.

ETH doubles in value within 3 months thanks to ETFs and Institutional accumulation

Meanwhile, the timing of BlackRock’s filing coincides with ETH’s recent performance, which has seen the token wipe out all its losses for the year and finally have a positive year-to-date performance.

Over the past three months, ETH price has increased by 114%, a trend that is also evident within shorter periods, with a 38.5% gain in 30 days and 21.12% gains in seven days. The token is now trading at $3,420 and is up 2% year to date.

BlackRock filing likely contributed to its gains with the almost 4% rise in ETH value today in what looks like the start of the altcoin season, with ETH, XRP, SOL, and BNB seeing gains while Bitcoin recorded a slight drop.

However, the biggest contributor to ETH’s resurgence is likely the institutional interest evident in its ETFs’ inflows and ETH treasury companies’ accumulation. Data shared by Seyffart noted that ETH ETFs now have over $5.5 billion in inflows since launch, with $3.3 billion coming since mid-April.

While this is relatively small compared to the $18 billion in net flow for Bitcoin ETFs in the last three months, it highlights the rising interest in spot ETH ETFs. That interest is likely to increase if staking is allowed for the product.

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