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Ethereum ETFs explained: all eleven US funds

Every US spot Ether ETF compared on fee and staking status, from MSSE at 0.14% to ETHE at 2.50% — plus how staking distributions finally arrived in 2026 and what they are worth.

Ether funds launched eighteen months after bitcoin funds and spent their first eighteen months with a structural handicap nobody had solved: they could not stake. Ether holders who run or delegate to validators earn rewards for securing the network. Fund shareholders earned nothing, so the products tracked the price and left the yield behind.

That gap closed in 2026, and it changed the category more than any fee cut. Here is the full line-up, what separates the funds, and what the staking distributions are actually worth.

All eleven US spot Ether ETFs

What an Ether ETF actually is

Structurally identical to a spot Bitcoin ETP: a grantor trust registered under the Securities Act of 1933 that holds ether with a qualified custodian and issues shares against it. Authorised participants create and redeem shares in baskets, and arbitrage keeps the share price aligned with the underlying value. The mechanics are the same and are covered in creation and redemption.

What differs is the asset. Ether is not just a store of value — it is the fee token and staking asset of a proof-of-stake network. That single fact created a problem bitcoin funds never had, and it is the reason this category has evolved along a different path.

The staking problem, and how it was solved

When spot Ether ETPs launched on 23 July 2024, they were not permitted to stake. The consequence was straightforward and slightly awkward for the industry: a fund holding ether earned nothing on it, while an individual holding the same ether could delegate to a validator and receive network rewards. The fund's return was the price move minus a fee. The direct holder's return was the price move plus rewards.

Commentary at the time was blunt about it. Analysis in May 2026 described ETHA as structurally unable to capture the yield direct holders earn, with Fidelity's FETH and Grayscale's converted trust facing the identical restriction.

The resolution came in stages through 2026 as the SEC cleared staking structures:

• 5 January 2026 — Grayscale's ETHE became the first US crypto ETP to distribute staking rewards to shareholders.
• 12 March 2026 — BlackRock launched ETHB, a dedicated staking fund that stakes its ether and pays the yield monthly, with its 0.25% fee waived until March 2027 or $2.5 billion in assets.
• Through 2026 — Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Invesco, 21Shares and VanEck filed amendments to add staking to existing funds, with remaining reviews expected to clear during the year.

Note that BlackRock chose to launch a separate fund rather than convert ETHA. That is a meaningful signal: it means investors get to choose between price-only and staking exposure rather than having the change imposed, and it keeps ETHA's simpler profile intact for holders who prefer it. The full mechanics are in Ethereum staking ETFs.

How the funds actually differ

Fee

A wide spread by crypto ETP standards. MSSE at 0.14% and Grayscale's Mini Trust ETH at 0.15% are the cheapest; a cluster sits at 0.19% to 0.25%; ETHE stands alone at 2.50%. 21Shares' TETH has its 0.21% fee waived until 8 October 2026 — a waiver, not a standing fee, and worth checking before choosing on that basis.

Staking, and the reward split

The important number is not whether a fund stakes but what reaches you. The sponsor takes a cut, keeps part of the holding liquid to meet redemptions (which reduces the staked proportion), and distributes the remainder. Compare the net distribution against the raw network rate, not against zero.

Custody

The same concentration pattern as the bitcoin category, with Fidelity again the exception — FETH is self-custodied through Fidelity Digital Asset Services, as FBTC is. See custody explained.

Liquidity

ETHA dominates, having gathered more than two million ETH — roughly 2% of total supply — and around $12.74 billion. That scale means the tightest spreads in the category. Smaller funds quote wider, and the difference matters if you trade rather than hold.

Scale and flows

Ether funds hold roughly $15.2 billion in net assets on about $13.0 billion of cumulative net inflows, equal to something in the region of 5% of ether's market capitalisation. That is a meaningful share of the asset, though smaller relative to supply than the bitcoin funds hold.

August 2026 was the category's strongest month of demand since the products found their footing. A streak of nine to ten consecutive sessions from 17 August drew $1.42 billion, capped by a single-day net inflow of $225.8 million on 27 August — the largest since 28 October 2025. In one of those weeks, ETHA led with $567 million against FETH's $96.5 million.

Worth keeping in proportion. Ether traded around $2,400 on 2 September 2026, well below earlier levels, while these inflows were arriving. Flows and price are not the same signal — see do ETF flows move the price.

Three ways this differs from a Bitcoin ETF