BlackRock's Ethereum Staking ETF Charges 18% Commission on Staking Rewards

Odaily News BlackRock's iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ticker: ETHB) launched on March 12. It has a management fee of 0.25% (with a temporary promotional rate of 0.12%) and also charges an 18% commission on the total staking rewards from the approximately $318 million worth of ETH staked within the trust. This commission is split between BlackRock and Coinbase.

Based on the current ETH staking yield of approximately 2.74%, the 18% commission equates to roughly 49 basis points of the total return. Falconedge CEO Roy Kashi believes this 18% covers costs such as custody, slashing risk, validator fees, and brand premium, estimating the operational cost floor for a staking ETF to be around 5%. Richard Shorten, founder of GlobalStake, pointed out that there are numerous hidden fees before the rewards even reach the ETF.

Cosmos co-founder Ethan Buchman stated that 18% is not unreasonable for an institutional product but expects it to be compressed to 15% or even 10% in the future. Harriet Browning, Vice President of Sales at Twinstake, cautioned that excessive fee competition could lead some providers to lower standards in security and transparency. Currently, this commission rate is still lower than the maximum 25% fee paid by retail users for directly staking ETH on mainstream crypto platforms. Financial advisor Tyrone Ross questioned whether it is worth giving up 18% of the staking rewards to BlackRock and Coinbase.