Ethereum sees yearly high in institutional activity following ETF launch

Key Takeaways

• ETH large transaction volume reached a monthly high after ETF launch, despite price decline.
• ETH ETFs experienced $190M net outflows in first three days, largely due to Grayscale ETHE outflows.

Ethereum (ETH) reached a yearly high in transactions larger than $100,000 following the launch of spot ETH exchange-traded funds (ETF), according to IntoTheBlock’s “On-chain Insights” newsletter. This comes despite Ethereum showing a 4.6% slump in the past seven days.

However, ETH ETFs have experienced net outflows of approximately $190 million in the first three days since launch, according to Farside. This is primarily due to Grayscale’s ETHE recording $1.1 billion in outflows, likely from investors who bought at a discount and sold at a profit after it transitioned to an ETF.

The broader crypto and stock markets have seen a turbulent end to July, erasing monthly gains. ETH has underperformed, attributed to changing macro sentiment and profit-taking following the ETF launch. Major stock indices have fallen nearly 10% from recent highs, potentially impacting crypto markets.

Political developments have also influenced market sentiment, highlighted the analysts at IntoTheBlock. Trump’s odds of winning the presidency, which had climbed to 70% following a debate and shooting incident, dropped to 62% after Biden endorsed Kamala Harris, according to Polymarket.

Notably, ETH’s market capitalization has declined from over 50% of Bitcoin’s in September 2022 to 32% currently. While some hoped the ETH ETFs would bring Wall Street adoption, initial outflows don’t reflect this trend.

However, it may be premature to label the ETH ETFs a disappointment, as Bitcoin ETFs also experienced initial outflows before seeing significant inflows weeks later.

The changing political and economic landscape appears to be weighing on Ether’s price, despite the long-awaited ETH ETF launch.