Bitcoin exchange-traded funds staged a solid recovery last week with $260 million in inflows after two consecutive weeks of outflows, but still fell short of Ethereum fund’s $268 million performance as digital asset products posted $572 million in combined weekly flows.
The inflows came in after weathering significant early-week turbulence that saw $1 billion flow out of funds, as per Farside Investors.
But when President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing crypto assets in 401(k) retirement plans, it triggered $1.57 billion worth inflows during the latter half of the week, according to crypto asset manager CoinShares.
The policy shift appears to have pushed institutional appetite for crypto exposure through regulated investment vehicles.
Mal Zane, regional director at CoinEx, told Decrypt that many large investors see Ethereum as more than just a higher-risk trade on the crypto market.
“It is also the backbone for areas like DeFi, tokenized assets, and staking—sectors that are drawing more attention as traditional finance experiments with blockchain,” he said.
Ethereum funds have now accumulated $8.2 billion in flows this year, establishing new records as assets under management climbed to $32.6 billion, according to CoinShares’ Head of Research James Butterfill.
Bitcoin products recovered from recent weakness but trailed their Ethereum rivals in weekly performance.
“With ETH’s market capitalization still just one-fifth of BTC’s, it takes far less institutional and Corporate Treasury capital to move the needle,” Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a Monday note.
QCP Capital said the weekend rally was “impressive,” with ETH jumping 21% to top $4,300 for the first time since 2021 and BTC briefly surpassing $122,000, now trading at $120,104, up 1.3% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.
Traders are now eyeing Tuesday’s U.S. CPI report, with a cooler print potentially strengthening expectations of a September Fed rate cut.
Illia Otychenko, lead analyst at CEX.IO, told Decrypt that Ethereum ETFs are experiencing “a local FOMO that was developing amid reestablished bullish momentum surrounding Ethereum.”
The bullish momentum was backed by some of the strongest Ethereum usage in years, Otychenko noted with “active addresses surging to the highest level since early 2021,” while transaction counts and total value staked hit all-time highs.
However, trading volumes across digital asset ETPs declined 23% from the previous month, pointing to typical summer market patterns.
