BlackRock’s ETHA exchange-traded fund (ETF) is the first Ethereum fund to cross $1 billion in cumulative net inflows. This underscores ETHA’s lead among other rival issuers that were greenlighted to trade spot ether ETFs in the United States.
BlackRock’s ETHA Clinches New Milestone
According to data from Farside Investors, new investor money flowing into BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum fund (ETHA) has topped $1 billion as of this writing. As a result, BlackRock is now leading other issuers, including Fidelity Investments, Bitwise, Grayscale Investments, and VanEck on the spot Ethereum ETF sector.
Fidelity’s FETH is the current runner-up to ETHA with $367 million in inflows. That’s followed by $310 million for Bitwise’s ETW and $227 million for Grayscale’s Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH). In total, the three ETFs accumulated $900 million, which is still collectively coming short of ETHA’s progress.
Since it went live on July 23, ETHA has had its fair share of boring days with measly or no inflows. But overall, the fund has amassed a significant influx, most likely due to BlackRock’s reputation as the world’s largest asset manager.
The $1 billion inflow record came after ETHA pulled in $26.8 million on Tuesday. Farside indicates that only BlackRock’s ETH ETF and Bitwise’s ETHW posted inflows yesterday, while other ETFs, besides Grayscale’s ETHE, had zero flows. Investors have withdrawn roughly $2.47 billion from ETHE since its conversion from a closed-end fund.
It’s worth mentioning that the massive Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF inflows recently helped BlackRock flip Grayscale in terms of assets under management. Grayscale had previously held the title of the largest asset manager in the crypto industry for years.
While the $1 billion threshold is a huge feat, BlackRock’s ETHA dwarfs the performance of the company’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which surpassed the $1 billion mark within the span of four days after its historic debut in mid-January. Despite the underwhelming pace compared to Bitcoin ETFs, the demand for ETH funds such as ETHA is increasing, albeit they have not been as successful as their BTC peers — presumably due to the lack of the staking elements behind Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) security system.
Ether’s Price Is Lagging
Ether has been on a significant downtrend since the ETFs arrived on Wall Street. The price of the industry’s second-largest crypto by market cap has fallen over 24% to trade at $2,632 as of publication time, down from $3,500 on the ETF launch date.
Regardless, as momentum for the spot Ethereum-based products picks up, many crypto spectators expect it to reflect in the price of ETH.