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Ethereum cofounder Joseph Lubin (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
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Ethereum spot ETFs tie their longest streak at 18 positive inflow days

A new report making a bull case for ethereum may help fuel its momentum.

Sage D. Young

Ethereum spot ETFs just notched their 18th consecutive day of inflows, tying their record, just as community members published a new report that’s extremely bullish on the token’s future.

On Wednesday, spot ethereum ETFs saw about $240.3 million in inflows, with BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF making up over 68% of the figure, data from investment research platform SoSoValue shows. The current streak, from May 16 to June 11, has seen roughly $1.3 billion pouring into the funds.

The price of ethereum has remained flat in the last 24 hours, but has increased nearly 9% since the start of its ETF inflow streak to trade at the $2,750 level, per CoinGecko. Pectra, ethereum’s most recent mainnet upgrade, went live in May, making the network more efficient, scalable, and user-friendly and helping boost the price action.

Despite the positive news, ethereum is still 43.7% away from its all-time high of $4,878 set in 2021, while bitcoin and Solana have both set record prices this year. The last time spot ethereum ETFs had 18 days of straight inflows occurred last November and December, when ethereum was ranging in price from $3,300 to just under $4,000. 

The ongoing inflows come amid a new report from 21 prominent community members making a bull case for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Contributors include Etherealize cofounders Danny Ryan, Vivek Raman, and Grant Hummer as well as Electric Capital partner Maria Shen and Serotonin founder Amanda Cassatt. 

The report says ethereum “remains among the most significantly mispriced opportunities in global markets today” and describes the cryptocurrency as “digital oil powering the digital economy.” The report puts ethereum’s short-term price target at $8,000, while its long-term forecast is $80,000. 

“Institutional investors have been so focused on Bitcoin and its narrative as a store of value that they have overlooked an asset with far greater growth potential,” Joseph Lubin, CEO of Consensys and cofounder of ethereum, said in the report’s press release. Last month, Consensys led the $425 million investment round into SharpLink Gaming, which announced plans to adopt an ethereum treasury playbook. 

Christopher Perkins, president of crypto asset-focused investment firm CoinFund, told Sherwood News it’s logical for investors to focus on ethereum following bitcoin. “Recent regulatory clarifications around staking and a regalvanized Ethereum Foundation have helped breathe life back into the ecosystem,” Perkins said.

“As institutions enter the space in force, ethereum’s 10 years of history helps,” he added. 

Maksim Tkachuk, an analyst at market intelligence platform Santiment, argued the inflows of ethereum spot ETFs combined with the network’s consistent large staking queue, which is 2x larger than anything within the last year, suggests a great deal of confidence in ethereum’s price action. “I could even say ETH outperformance is becoming consensus,” Tkachuk told Sherwood. 

However, in light of the optimistic sentiment among traders and investors in the price of ethereum, he expressed caution. “Data and observations are showing that the majority of market participants are confident in ETH price growth, and when the majority agrees on something in the market context, it makes sense to play contrarian,” Tkachuk said.

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Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold

Payward, crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, has paused its plans for an initial public offering until market conditions improve, according to a report from CoinDesk that cited two people with knowledge of the matter. 

Since the firm announced in November its preparation for an IPO of its common stock, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has shed around $652.2 billion, from $3.2 trillion to $2.5 trillion as of Wednesday, data from CoinGecko shows. 

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

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SEC and CFTC issue new guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto assets

On Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued an interpretation clarifying how federal securities law applies to crypto assets, a first step toward developing a clearer regulatory framework. 

The interpretive guidance introduces a token taxonomy for different types of cryptocurrencies, with SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins adding that “most crypto assets are not themselves securities.”

Examples of a digital commodity, “a crypto asset that is intrinsically linked to and derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system that is ‘functional,’” include:

The guidance also includes definitions of digital collectibles (such as NFTs), stablecoins, digital tools, and digital securities (such as tokenized real-world assets and stocks).

This is a monumental step in the mainstream adoption of the industry and clears a hurdle in how crypto can operate going forward, according to David Pakman, head of venture investments at CoinFund. “This will allow new token designs with the confidence that their existence does not require registration with the SEC, etc.,” Pakman told Sherwood News.

Despite the clarification efforts from the two organizations, the market capitalization of the crypto industry has dropped about 2% in the last 24 hours as each of the tokens mentioned in the guidance are trading lower in the period, data from CoinGecko shows.

The joint agency action also complements congressional efforts to turn a crypto market structure framework into law. With the goal of providing regulations on the offer and sale of digital commodities, the CLARITY Act passed the House of Representatives last year and is now sitting in the Senate.

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