The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed the NASDAQ proposal to amend BlackRock’s Ishares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) on July 29th.
The NASDAQ submission removes the previous statement that neither BlackRock nor Custodian uses ETH held by the Emxy-Traded Fund (ETF) to verify the holding chain of Ethereum proofs and earn revenue.
The proposal adds a new “staking” section that approves Ethereum on some or all Etha Ethereum directly or through one or more trusted staking providers, using staking rewards that may be paid to the ETF and treated as income.
Quick check
Nasdaq Submitted on July 16th To add staking to BlackRock’s ETHA, we will add detailed sections that allow staking directly or at trusted providers, treat compensation as income and operate under the Corp Fin Statement, ensuring tax clarity prior to launch.
Bloomberg’s James Seyfert called the Nasdaq submission “about time,” and its first final deadline arrived in October, with the Nasdaq’s BlackRock application having an early deadline of April 2026. But he hopes for a decision sooner.
In a competitive queue, Cboe is seeking permissions from Fidelity’s Feth, Franklin Templeton’s Ezet, Invesco Galaxy’s Qeth and 21Shares’Ceth.
At the same time, NYSE Arca is pursuing the same approval for Bitwise’s ETHW and Grayscale’s Ethe and its mini-trust.
After the SEC Corporation Finance division, a rush to allow spot ETFs to be staking has increased the pace It was stated on May 29th Participants in standard protocol staking activities do not need to register these activities as securities transactions.
The regulator’s statement includes self-preparation, delegated staking, custody staking, and non-radical staking. Furthermore, service features such as early withdrawal, reduction protection and asset aggregation do not translate stakes into their own securities offerings under federal law.
A timeline of evidence and reviews
NASDAQ claims that by allowing ETHA stakes, it will adapt the product to etheric returns, improve the efficiency of creation and redemption, and benefit the end investors.
The filing also describes the role of Staking in supporting the Ethereum validation process and in compensating validators via block rewards.
Once published in the Federal Register, the committee has 45 days, which can be extended up to 90 days to approve, disapprove or file a lawsuit regarding the proposal.
The SEC also invited public comments on the issue.
