BlackRock executed a 1-for-3 reverse split of its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) on October 6, 2025, consolidating every three shares into one. The move, approved by the fund's sponsor on July 31, 2025, per an SEC filing, raised ETHA's share price from approximately $14.15 to about $42.45. The split does not change the value of investors' holdings but is intended to improve the ETF's trading dynamics.
Why the split was needed
ETHA's share price had fallen by more than 37% year-to-date in 2025, to around $14.15, making it one of the lowest-priced spot Ethereum ETFs on the market. Competitors like Grayscale's Ethereum fund traded near $18, Morgan Stanley's MSSE around $20, and VanEck's ETHV at about $27. A low share price can widen bid-ask spreads and deter some institutional investors. Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said the reverse split could narrow ETHA's bid-ask spread from roughly 7 basis points to about 2 basis points, making it cheaper to trade.
What the analyst said
Balchunas contrasted ETHA's projected 2-basis-point spread with the cost of buying crypto directly. A trade on Ledger costs at least 150 basis points, while Coinbase's simplified buying runs about 140 basis points. That makes Coinbase roughly 70 times more expensive than ETHA's projected spread. Even a direct crypto trade at 40 basis points would be 20 times higher. The ETF's lower cost comes with an annual sponsor fee, but for investors seeking exposure through a brokerage, the savings are significant.
No change in value, but a signal?
Reverse splits often carry negative connotations in equity markets. A 2025 Reuters report noted that about 80% of companies executing reverse splits had a market value below $250 million. BlackRock offered no official explanation for the move, though the fund's prospectus allows such action when the secondary-market price falls outside a desirable trading range. The reverse split does not reverse ETHA's year-to-date losses, and Ethereum's price had declined from over $3,200 at the start of 2025 to around $1,870 at the time of the split.
Split-adjusted trading began on Nasdaq on October 6, 2025. ETHA remains the largest spot Ethereum ETF by assets, with about $5.4 billion in net assets as of August 4, 2025, and cumulative net inflows exceeding $11 billion. The split is a structural adjustment, not a strategy to boost returns. Investors holding shares on the October 5 record date automatically received the consolidated shares.
