Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, experienced a notable price surge Tuesday hours ahead of spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) officially beginning to trade in the U.S..
Trading for Grayscale’s Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) and its new Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) has already begun on the NYSE Arca, which opened at 4 a.m. Eastern Time. But trading for other spot Ethereum ETFs, like BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA), will begin when the Nasdaq opens at 9:30 a.m. ET.
The price of ETH jumped from $3,450 to $3,541 over the course of an hour during European trading hours, following the confirmation from digital asset manager Grayscale that its two spot Ethereum ETFs would commence trading.
As of the latest data, ETH is trading at $3,525, showing a 0.1% increase in the last 24 hours and a more substantial 4.5% gain over the past week.
The launch of Ethereum ETFs has generated significant interest in the crypto community, with various predictions about their potential impact on the market.
Crypto market maker Wintermute forecasted that spot Ethereum ETFs could attract up to $4 billion in capital inflows over the next year, potentially driving the price of ETH up by 24%.
Bitwise CIO Matt Hogan told Decrypt said he's heard traders doubting whether the new ETH funds will see much success—but he's not buying it.
"Some people are skeptical that the Ethereum ETPs will be successful, and think the Bitcoin ETPs sucked up all the oxygen. They may be right," he said. "But everywhere I look—from the European ETF market to the Canadian ETF market to Coinbase and other exchanges—when you give investors the choice to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum, they end up buying both. I'm not sure why things would be different here."
Adding to the positive sentiment, Bitwise, one of the ETF issuers, announced its plans to donate 10% of the profits from its Ethereum spot ETF to Ethereum open source developers, saying it wants to highlight the importance of supporting the underlying technology and ecosystem.
The enthusiasm for the new ETH funds follows a recent surge in digital asset investment products.
According to CoinShares' latest Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report, the crypto market saw inflows of $1.35 billion last week, bringing the total inflows over the past three weeks to $3.2 billion.
Notably, ETH funds have seen a string of weekly net outflows. But last week, ETH funds saw a reversal in their fortunes as investors deposited $45 million. That was enough to outpace Solana funds as the altcoin with the most inflows, year-to-date, at $103 million.
"The outlook for Ethereum seems to have turned a corner, seeing a further US$45m of inflows last week, overtaking Solana for the altcoin with the most inflows year-to-date,” wrote James Butterfill, Head of Research at CoinShares in a blog post.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.