Ethereum ETF Race Heats Up as BlackRock Amends Staking Reward Fee Model

• The Ethereum price faces renewed selling pressure at $2,164 amid geopolitical tension, including Iran, and risk-off sentiment in the market.
• $ETH sellers reclaim the 20-day exponential moving average to strengthen their group for the asset.
• The U.S. February 2026 nonfarm payroll report surprised markets with a decline of 92,000 jobs

$ETH, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, slid 4.5% during Friday’s U.S. market hours to trade at $1,970. This pullback follows the footsteps of Bitcoin, which again breaks below the $70,000 amid escalating geopolitical tension in the Middle East. While the price action remains sluggish, the asset management company BlackRock updated its SEC filling iShares Ethereum Staking ETF (ETHB) to reduce the staking fee, suggesting that the firm is actively pushing toward a potential launch

BlackRock Lowers Staking Fee to 10% in Updated Filing for Ethereum Staking ETF

On March 6th, the crypto market witnessed a significant sell-off, which pulled its market cap down 3.53% to $2.32 trillion. The primary catalyst that supported this drawdown is rising oil prices across broader markets as geopolitical tension in the Middle East escalates.

In addition, the February 2026 US nonfarm payrolls came to an unexpected loss of 92,000 jobs against the market forecast of a 50,000 gain, with unemployment steady at 4.4%. Such weak job numbers may raise the odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, which historically triggered a recovery in risk assets, including cryptocurrency.

BlackRock has filed an amended SEC filing for its proposed staked Ethereum ETF, ticker ETHB, changing the fee that is applied to staking rewards. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart noted the main change: the staking fee is reduced to 10% of the rewards earned monthly, down from 18% of gross staking amounts.

The structure has no charge for months, with no rewards and no minimum charge. A tiered discount mechanism means that once the aggregate value of the assets staked using approved validators reaches or exceeds $20 million, the fee will be reduced to 6%, with the lower rate in place from that point forward. This revision puts the product in a better position, given the continuous development of Ethereum-based investment vehicles.

This could help increase inflows to the ETF upon its launch, as institutions and retail participants will have easier access to Ethereum staking yields without having to manage nodes themselves.

$ETH Price Fails Breakout From Monthly Resistance

In the last 48-hours, the Ethereum price has plunged from $2,164 to $1,974, registering a loss of 9.2%. The drawdown indicates overhead supply at $2,164 and $ETH’s third reversal from this range resistance.

Previous $ETH price reversal from this resistance has bolstered the Ethereum price with renewed selling pressure and a signal of continued consolidation ahead. If history repeats, $ETH could lose another 6.8% and retest the bottom trendline at $1,810.

If coin sellers force a breakdown below this floor, the selling pressure would accelerate and pull the asset to the $1,530 support.

The downsloping daily EMAs (20, 50, 100, and 200) support the bearish narrative by offering dynamic resistance to price.

$ETH/USDT -1d Chart

On the contrary, if Ethereum price rebounds from the range support, the buyers would attempt another breakout from the overhead resistance to drive a sustained recovery.