BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust Surpasses $10 Billion in Assets

BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has surpassed $10 billion in assets, achieving the third-fastest ascent to that milestone in ETF history, according to Bloomberg data. This reflects a surging investor appetite for Ethereum.

ETHA reached this threshold in just 251 days, faster than all but the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) which took 34 days, and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund which took 53 days.

The fund doubled in size over 10 days, adding $5 billion in assets, marking the shortest period for a fund to grow from $5 billion to $10 billion, as noted by Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas in an interview with Decrypt.

> “That five to $10 billion move, most of that’s the price, although the flows were robust too. It was a nice combination of both. But I don’t think I’ve ever seen an ETF grow that quickly. This is very weird stuff,” Balchunas stated.

The inflow surge coincided with a significant spike in Ethereum’s price, approaching $3,850, its highest since December, and currently trading about 3.5% lower at $3,710, according to CoinGecko data.

Analysts attribute this increase, along with growing interest in ETH treasuries, to the current trend; however, Balchunas noted that the relationship between price and flows remains unclear.

> “Flows and prices are like tangoing… it’s not one for one. It’s a chicken or egg question,” he explained.

Looking ahead, the ETHA hitting $10 billion in just one year is noteworthy, especially when considering its predecessors, the Bitcoin ETFs– IBIT and FBTC. Inflows totaled over $1.1 billion in the first three days of the current week alone.

While Ethereum ETFs have gained popularity, their performance still lags behind that of the 12 Bitcoin products commanding over $140 billion in AUM, led by IBIT with over $70 billion.

Despite the substantial interest in Ethereum ETFs, ETF.com Senior Analyst Sumit Roy expressed surprise at how long it took for investors to warm up to them compared to their Bitcoin counterparts.

> “We’ll see if this is the catalyst that finally breaks Ethereum prices out of their trading range—it may or may not be. Regardless, it signals that the demand for Ethereum ETFs has finally arrived,” Roy concluded.