Ethereum has staged a comeback to become one of the best-performing digital assets over the past few months.
The stark growth has positioned U.S.-based Ethereum ETF investors ahead of Bitcoin ETF holders, according to experts and inflow data.
“Purchases from U.S.-based Ethereum ETFs have outperformed Bitcoin’s,” CryptoQuant’s head of research, Julio Moreno, told Decrypt. He cited a high growth in Ethereum to Bitcoin ETF holdings and spot trading volume ratios since April.
“Rising institutional interest—especially around digital asset trusts,” is a primary reason, Delory Fong, Amber Group’s Head of Flow Trading, told Decrypt.
While Bitcoin still leads Ethereum in year-to-date performance, the past month tells a different story. The second-largest crypto has surged 50% relative to Bitcoin in the past month and is nearing a six-month high.
Ethereum’s dominance can also be observed in the rate of growth via ETF inflows. Spot Ethereum-based ETFs saw a record inflow of $2.18 billion according to SoSoValue.
A closer look shows that Bitcoin ETF inflows were nearly 45 times that of Ethereum’s in April. This gap, however, has shrunk to 1.6 times as Tuesday.
“The short-term narrative is on Ethereum,” Sean Dawson, head of research at on-chain options platform Derive, told Decrypt.
Dawson pointed to factors such as Bitmine co-founder Tom Lee’s “light MicroStrategy-like Ethereum treasury play” and other publicly-listed companies accumulating Ethereum as primary drivers for its recent outperformance.
Fong echoed that sentiment, adding that “strong capital flows” due to deals like “Dynamix Corporation’s merger with The Ether Machine and the SBET transaction” are “drawing attention from large players.”
Regulatory clarity bolstered by Trump’s signing of the GENIUS Bill and the aforementioned developments has also created a “confluence” that will give “Ethereum an incredible time to shine,” Dawson said.
He concluded that it would not be “unreasonable to expect Ethereum to soar past $8,000 by Christmas.”
