Key facts
- Ether has gained approximately 11% this week, significantly outperforming bitcoin and other large-cap crypto assets.
- U.S. spot ether ETFs attracted $96 million in the first three days of the week, exceeding last week's total inflows.
- BlackRock's ether ETFs, ETHA and ETHB, accounted for the vast majority of recent inflows.
- Grayscale's ether trust has experienced $5.3 billion in outflows since its launch.
- The new Robinhood Chain layer-2 network, launched July 1, uses ether for gas fees and has seen substantial trading volume.
- Bitcoin's ETF flows have been volatile, with large outflows on July 13 followed by inflows on July 14.
Ether has significantly outperformed bitcoin and the broader crypto market this week, driven by renewed investor interest in U.S. spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and new demand from a recently launched layer-2 network.
Ether has surged approximately 11% over the past seven days, trading near $1,920 on Thursday. This rally contrasts with bitcoin, which saw a more modest 4.2% gain over the same period and traded around $64,600. Other major tokens like Solana and TRON have experienced declines.
Inflows into U.S. spot ether ETFs have accelerated, with $96 million added in the first three days of the week, surpassing the $84 million gathered in the entirety of the previous week. BlackRock's low-fee ether ETFs, ETHA and ETHB, were the primary recipients of this new capital, absorbing $45.3 million and $4 million respectively on Wednesday. This strong performance stands in contrast to Grayscale's original ether trust, which has seen $5.3 billion in outflows since its inception, largely due to its higher 2.5% fee compared to BlackRock's 0.25%.
Ether is also benefiting from a new demand source: Robinhood Chain. This layer-2 network, launched on July 1, utilizes ether for gas fees and settles transactions on the Ethereum mainnet. It has been processing over $800 million in daily decentralized exchange volume, predominantly from memecoin trading.
Despite volatile ETF flows, Bitcoin's on-chain data suggests a relatively steady market. Exchange outflows have persisted, indicating a lack of significant rotation into stablecoins, a typical sign of investors stepping back. Funding rates are near zero, suggesting that overleveraged long positions that fueled previous liquidation cascades have been cleared.