Since spot ether Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) began trading on US securities exchanges, five days have seen precisely $0 of Ethereum capital inflows. Even worse, since July 23, 2024, owners of the nine spot ether ETFs have actually withdrawn money from those products.
Incredibly, because trusts and other investors seeded over $10 billion worth of spot ether into the ETFs prior to their debut on US exchanges, the tally of post-launch trading activity is negative $556 million.
‘Inflows’ is a term used to describe the net US dollar flow into spot ether ETFs. It excludes all other Ethereum-related purchases and sales such as futures, options, derivatives, or spot ether itself.
Investors track ETF inflows as a way to measure how much effect ETFs are having on Ethereum’s market capitalization independent of other variables. In this case, the answer is simple: Ether ETFs have not helped.
Ether inflows crash, billions behind bitcoin ETFs
Although US spot ether ETFs have been net negative since inception, spot bitcoin ETFs as an investment vehicle have been indisputably beneficial for bitcoin inflows. Although bitcoin holders might choose to sell other products and buy spot ETFs — a roundtrip of non-economic purpose — there is significant evidence that ETFs are truly contributing to bitcoin’s market capitalization.
Specifically, since spot bitcoin ETFs began trading on US exchanges on January 11, 2024, inflows have exceeded $18.7 billion. That compares starkly with spot ether ETF outflows of -$556 million.
The disappointment is even more bitter after a promising start. On their opening day, spot ether ETFs bested the debut of spot bitcoin ETFs. Soon, however, Ethereum gave up its initial lead.
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