Author: Jack Inabinet, Bankless; Translated by: Baishui, Golden Finance
Eagle-eyed Bitcoin holders have long maintained that their chosen asset is the only cryptocurrency that institutions are willing to buy. With the advent of a spot ETH ETF, will TradFi soon find a better alternative?
Long-time Bitcoin holder and MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor previously rejected Ethereum on the grounds that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would declare it (and all non-BTC tokens) to be crypto-asset securities.
Unfortunately for Saylor, the impending approval of a spot ETH ETF opens the door to future spot ETF listings for any crypto asset that fits the nebulous definition of a commodity, eliminating BTC’s monopoly on TradFi access and forcing it to compete with other crypto assets in the free market for capital.
While many believe Bitcoin will be the only digital asset to gain mass adoption, Ethereum remains highly attractive to institutional players due to the network’s utility and similar properties.
Over half a dozen prominent financiers have praised Ethereum and the use cases it supports, and many asset managers have launched their own tokenization experiments to gain first-hand experience with Ethereum L1!
Assuming a spot ETH ETF is approved tomorrow, TradFi institutions will finally have the tools they need to monetize their support for Ethereum, which could force them to adopt Ethereum’s native blockchain technology more and evangelize Ethereum to outside capital.
Daily trading volume for the existing commodity futures-based Ethereum ETF hit all-time highs twice this week, with $47.8 million in trading on Tuesday, a 40% increase from the previous all-time high set the day before and a seven-fold increase from last week’s peak.
Ethereum futures ETF volumes may pale in comparison to the trillions of dollars in daily volume processed by spot BTC ETFs, but they are not far off BTC futures ETF volumes which have fluctuated around the $200 million mark in recent weeks.
While the growth in ETH futures ETF volumes is certainly impressive when adjusted for percentage, it’s worth noting that they’re only rebounding from dismal levels of just a few million dollars in daily volume.
Leading Bitcoin futures ETF BITO consistently handled over $500 million in volume before spot BTC ETF approval and achieved nearly $2 billion in volume the day before the main event; The gap between BTC and ETH spot ETF pre-launch volume statistics clearly shows that TradFi participants are not as keen on speculating on the launch of the ETH spot ETF as they were on the BTC spot launch.
Despite the relative lack of enthusiasm for Ethereum ahead of tomorrow’s first final spot ETF decision deadline, the overwhelming denial heading into this week may have bulls weary of making this trade…
The Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) has accumulated over $10B in ETH and will be redeemable upon conversion to a spot ETH ETF. Selling pressure from ETHE redemptions could weigh on prices in the short term, just as the January unlocking of GBTC did for Bitcoin, but many analysts remain bullish on the future trajectory of ETH prices.
Asset management firm Bernstein claims that the approval of a spot ETF will push Ethereum prices to $6,600, while multinational bank Standard Chartered reiterated its year-end target of $8,000.
