Ethereum exchange-traded funds generated more than $726 million in investments on Wednesday, the highest level in their nearly year-long trading history, as the price of their underlying asset rose to its highest level since January.
The nine funds have collectively netted $2.3 billion over a nine-day streak of inflows dating to July 3, according to UK asset manager Farside Investors.
Ethereum was recently trading just below the $3,500 mark on Thursday, continuing its own recent momentum with a 23% spike over the last seven days.
The price gains have been fueled in part by Ethereum treasury firms adding to their holdings. On Thursday, the Peter Thiel-backed BitMine Immersion surpassed $1 billion in Ethereum after adding $500 million in ETH to its holdings. The firm, which hopes to control 5% of all Ethereum held or staked, debuted its strategy earlier this month.
And this week, gambling marketing firm turned Ethereum accumulator SharpLink Gaming bought $225 million worth of Ethereum. The Minnesota company’s purchase followed a $425 million raise, with Consensys CEO and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin joining SharpLink’s board of directors.
(Disclosure: Consensys is one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)
The ETFs’ surge has also dovetailed with renewed optimism about the Ethereum network’s usefulness, particularly as the main protocol for stablecoin transactions. That market is likely to grow with the expected House passage of the GENIUS Act, analysts say.
“ETH stands to benefit much more from the passage of the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill than does BTC,” wrote analyst Noelle Acheson in her Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter on Thursday.
Acheson also noted that spot Ethereum ETFs may soon be allowed to allocate staking rewards, “boosting their appeal for mainstream investors.”
On Thursday, Nasdaq filed for a 19b-4 rule change that would allow the largest of these funds by assets, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), to include these features. The U.S. Securities and Commission is due to weigh in on similar proposals from issuers in October.
Spot Ethereum funds now manage nearly $14 billion in assets, according to data provider CoinGlass. Interest in these funds was tepid compared to investors dramatic embrace of spot Bitcoin ETFs, but the recent spike has put these products on nearly even terms at times. On Thursday, the Bitcoin funds generated $799 million in assets.
