On October 17, $BNB 7, global asset management giant BlackRock made another precise move - its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) officially submitted a 19b-4 filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), intending to introduce a staking feature for its Ethereum ETF.

Although prior to this, peers including Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, 21Shares, and Fidelity had already submitted similar proposals, market sentiment instantly heated up when BlackRock entered the fray. The reason is simple: BlackRock may not be the fastest to act, but it always manages to be the one that 'successfully passes,' reigniting strong expectations for the SEC to approve staking-based crypto ETFs.

According to analyst estimates, the SEC is expected to provide an initial response to the early submitted staking proposals by October of this year, and if the review goes smoothly, the official approval time could be advanced to the fourth quarter of 2025.