BlackRock Buys $1.4B in Ethereum ETFs as Institutional Demand Surges

The Ethereum ETFs have seen a massive influx of $1.42 billion over nine days, with BlackRock buying nearly every single one of them.

This surge in institutional demand began on August 17 and has continued unabated since then, with each day seeing net inflows into the category. However, this concentration of buying is notable, as one issuer, BlackRock, has accounted for almost three quarters of all dollars entering the Ethereum ETFs.

The gap between Ethereum ETFs and Bitcoin ETFs has narrowed significantly over this period, from $242.3 million to just $16.5 million by August 28. Fidelity's FETH saw its best day on August 28 at $56.2 million, while BlackRock's staked Ethereum product, ETHB, added $20.7 million that same day.

The majority of this buying is attributed to a marked rise in cross-asset risk appetite, with Max Shannon from Bitwise Europe noting that the flows are driven by allocators treating Ethereum as a portfolio weight rather than a conviction bet on outperformance.