On August 6, the spot Ether ETFs had their most significant day since they launched on July 23, with a total inflow of $98.4 million. Significant inflows of $109.9 million were recorded on the day, bringing the total to $869.8 million since the inception of BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) on July 23. Farside Investors reports that investors took advantage of Ether’s 18% price drop on August 5, and the spike was the third-largest inflow day for ETHA.
BlackRock’s Spot ETH Fund Among Top Six
According to Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, BlackRock’s spot Ether ETF is one of the six best-performing ETFs introduced in 2024, thanks to the $870 million inflow. He also highlighted that IBIT, a Bitcoin ETF offered by BlackRock, is one of four other top achievers. However, there are still huge regulatory hurdles for spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
- No in-kind creation & redemption
- No options trading
- No staking on the ETFs
Even now, these products are causing waves in the ETF market and breaking records. Think it should give you a clue about the demand from investors. On August 7, 2024, Nate Geraci posted a tweet. Among the nearly $600 million worth of leveraged long positions that were liquidated on “Black Monday” for the cryptocurrency market, ETHA garnered $47.1 million.
Despite the market uncertainty, ETHA was among the top 10% of ETFs launched this year based on combined inflows for August 5 and 6. None of this would have been possible without spot Ether ETFs, which allow options trading or staking returns.
Among the other Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), $22.5 million went into Fidelity’s spot ETF, $4.7 million into Grayscale’s Ethereum Mini Trust, and $1 million into Franklin’s Ethereum ETF. TradingFi is eating up all that Ethereum, said Anthony Sassano of The Daily Gwei, an Ethereum show.
The only spot Ether ETF to have an outflow totaling $39.7 million was Grayscale’s ETHE, their higher-fee Ethereum product. With $2.2 billion leaving Grayscale’s ETHE, spot Ether ETFs have lost a total of $473.9 million despite ETHA’s stellar performance. Based on statistics from CoinGecko, Ether has made a partial recovery and is now trading at $2,494, up 13.5% from its low point of $2,197 on August 5.
Bitcoin ETFs See Outflows for Third Day
On the other hand, US Bitcoin ETFs saw a net outflow of $149 million on August 6, continuing a three-day streak of negative net inflows. $32.2 million left Grayscale’s ETF GBTC, $64.5 million left Fidelity’s FBTC, and $28.9 million left ARKB.
Bitcoin spot ETFs have a total net asset value of $51.5 billion at the moment. The first decline in four weeks was seen last week, as $528 million was pulled out of digital asset investment products. There has been extensive selling off of assets across various asset classes, which experts attribute to rising fears of a U.S. recession and related geopolitical unpredictability.
Concerned about the Yen’s declining purchasing power versus the US Dollar, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) decided to hike interest rates for the first time in 17 years. This has caused broad sell-offs in risk-on-asset markets as investors fear for their money.
The current market uncertainty is compounded by the rising tensions in the Middle East, especially between Israel and its neighbors. Worried governments are taking precautions in anticipation of more significant escalation.
