BlackRock to skim 18% of staked Ethereum ETF rewards from investors — and ETHB exits could take weeks

BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) intends to stake between 70% and 95% of its Ether holdings to generate yield, keeping the remainder in a liquidity sleeve for ETF operations. The fund structure explicitly states that 18% of the gross staking consideration (rewards) will be taken as a fee covering the sponsor, execution agent, and providers, with the trust retaining the rest. This is in addition to a standard annual sponsor fee of 0.25% (waived initially). However, embedding staking introduces liquidity constraints; the filing notes that due to Ethereum's activation queues, newly deposited ETH could take weeks to start earning rewards, and redemptions could similarly take weeks or months during congestion, impacting the ETF's ability to align with market price movements during fast flows.

(Source：CryptoSlate)