BlackRock's ETH Staking ETF Aims to Mitigate Treasury Play Woes
Ethereum's (ETH) price decline has had a profound impact on corporate treasury plays, wiping out nearly an entire generation of equity wrappers built around raw cryptocurrency accumulation. Despite ETH trading near $2,000, equity vehicles such as ETHZilla Corp have seen their stocks collapse by over 97% from their August 2025 peak.
ETHZilla's stock fell to $3.40, down from $107, after the company sold over $114 million in ETH to service convertible debt and pivoted towards tokenizing leased jet engines. The company had held a significant amount of ETH without diversified revenue, resulting in asymmetric downside as market confidence deteriorated.
Meanwhile, BlackRock is filing with the SEC for its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB), designed to stake 70-95% of holdings via Coinbase and distribute approximately 3% annual yield to shareholders. This product remains pending SEC approval but has been seeded with initial capital.