Traditional financial giants have their eyes on Ethereum again? This time, the approach is truly different.

Recently, BlackRock submitted a new prospectus to the SEC—iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF. Sounds complicated? In reality, it simply packages “buying coins” and “earning interest” together.

# How is it different from previous ETH spot ETFs?

Those earlier ETFs only tracked Ethereum’s price fluctuations, like buying an index-tracking fund. But this new product will directly participate in staking on the Ethereum network—your money not only buys the asset but can also continuously generate returns, similar to a fixed deposit. According to their estimates, you could earn an extra 1.7% to 2.2% per year.

What’s the biggest benefit for ordinary people? Convenience. Staking ETH on your own requires technical know-how, running nodes, and monitoring network status. Now BlackRock takes care of all that. You just trade ETF shares like you would with stocks.

# Why are these big institutions so interested?

Simply put, they’ve tasted success. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF now has a scale of over $100 billion, so of course they want to replicate that with other assets. On a deeper level, they want to embed themselves in the blockchain ecosystem—not just as a “shovel seller” middleman, but by truly participating in on-chain activities like tokenization and staking.

The boundary between traditional finance and the crypto world is being gradually broken down by these giants.

# What does this mean for the market?

The compliance process is accelerating, that’s for sure. Institutions are willing to simplify complex staking mechanisms into standardized products, which in itself is a strong vote of confidence in the Ethereum ecosystem. That said, staking comes with a lock-up period and is definitely less liquid than spot assets—something to keep in mind.

But overall, the continued commitment from major institutions shows that the institutionalization of crypto assets is unstoppable.