Ethereum News Today: Nasdaq Proposes Staking for BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF

Nasdaq has submitted a proposal to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to include staking in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) exchange-traded fund (ETF). The proposed rule change would introduce a detailed “staking” section, allowing BlackRock to stake Ethereum (ETH) directly or through one or more trusted staking providers.

Under the proposed changes, BlackRock would treat received rewards as income and must hold the staked coins in arrangements consistent with a May statement by the SEC Division of Corporation Finance on certain protocol staking activities. Additionally, BlackRock must obtain either a counsel opinion or US government guidance on federal tax treatment before initiating staking. In the event of slashing or forking, BlackRock will not subsidize or absorb incoming losses.

Nasdaq stated that its proposal aims to enable ETHA to capture returns while operating under defined constraints intended to protect shareholders and the market. This move by Nasdaq comes as part of a broader industry push, with several issuers seeking regulatory approval to allow their US-based spot Ethereum products to earn protocol rewards.

Competitors such as Cboe, Bitwise, and Grayscale have also filed requests with the SEC to stake the ETH held in their respective funds. Cboe seeks authority for FETH, EZET, Invesco Galaxy’s QETH, and 21shares’ CETH. Bitwise is seeking approval to stake the ETH held in its ETHW, while Grayscale is seeking the same approval for its ETHE and mini trust.

The first final deadline for prior filings is in October, while the deadline for Nasdaq’s filing on BlackRock’s ETF is in early April. However, analysts believe it is unlikely for the SEC approval to take that long.

The heavy inflows into US-listed spot Ethereum ETFs, which attracted more than $726 million in net inflows across nine funds on July 16, may indicate that institutional investors are betting on Ethereum’s fundamentals, such as its infrastructure for stablecoins and tokenized assets. ETHA led allocations with $499.2 million, marking a record for daily inflows into the fund, representing nearly 69% of the total.