Crypto
Men in an Outrigger Seeing a Giant Full Moon
To the moon! (Getty Images)
Digital oil

Ethereum builds momentum as reserves and ETFs hit new records

The second-largest crypto by market cap has had an outsized week of action, with the largest spot ETF hitting $10 billion AUM.

Ethereum continues to gather momentum, with a slew of companies adding Ethereum to their reserves. Ethereum ETFs also celebrated their first birthday this week, and one particular fund is seeing massive inflows. Overall, the asset is up 6.3% in the past week. 

  • BitMine Immersion Technologies announced its ethereum holdings now exceed $2 billion, up from $500 million last week. The company, in which Peter Thiel recently bought a 9.1% stake, now holds 560,000 ethereum.

  • SharpLink Gaming (whose chairman is Joseph Lubin) acquired 79,949 ethereum, “the highest weekly amount,” and now holds 360,807 ethereum.

  • President Trump-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI) also acquired 3,743 ethereum and now holds 73,616 ethereum, according to Lookonchain.

  • Meanwhile, iShares Ethereum Trust ETF just hit $10 billion in assets under management in just one year. This represents “the 3rd fastest ETF to hit that mark in history after (you guessed it) two bitcoin ETFs $IBIT & $FBTC. Amazingly it went from $5b to $10b in just 10 days (ETF asset equiv of a God candle). Is in Top 5 in flows,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas posted on X.

More Crypto

See all Crypto
$1.2B

XRP ETFs have now crossed $1 billion in assets since the funds launched, according to SoSoValue, which shows total assets of $1.18 billion.

In September, the SEC approved generic listing standards, which paved the way for speedier listings and opened the floodgates for these products, and shortly after, Rex-Osprey launched the first spot XRP ETF available in the US.

Canary followed suit in November, launching an ETF trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker XRPC, which saw a record $58.5 million in trading volume on its first day. It’s the largest XRP ETF in the US, with $342 million in assets.

Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton also launched their own XRP ETFs in November. On December 11, 21Shares joined the XRP fund party.

It’s a noteworthy green shoot in the crypto space, as bitcoin and its ETFs have struggled, and XRP itself is down nearly 15% over the past month.

Jake Hanley, managing director and senior portfolio specialist at Teucrium Investment Advisors — which launched the first-ever XRP-based ETF in April, the 2x Long Daily XRP ETF — told Sherwood News that he is not surprised to see this level of interest in the XRP ETFs.

“We have long held that XRP and the Ripple ecosystem present a unique investment case among crypto assets. Crossing the $1 billion mark is yet another signal of the significant vote of confidence investors have in this increasingly important asset and ecosystem,” Hanley said.

crypto

New bitcoin AfterDark ETF will be bitcoin at night, Treasurys by day

Tidal Trust II submitted form N-1A with the SEC to register a bitcoin ETF designed to systemically capture the cryptocurrency’s overnight return profile, a time window that delivered a significant portion of bitcoin’s upside last year.

The Nicholas Bitcoin and Treasuries AfterDark ETF provides long bitcoin exposure during US overnight hours, from the closing bell until the following morning’s market open, when the fund intends to unwind its positions, according to a document filed with the SEC on Tuesday. 

To gain that exposure, the ETF may use a number of methods, including bitcoin futures contracts, US-listed ETFs, or exchange-traded options on such bitcoin underlying funds. When the market is open and daytime trading is active, the fund’s portfolio will consist of US Treasury securities and other cash equivalents. 

In 2024, most of bitcoin’s gains occurred after-hours, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported:

The AfterDark ETF filing comes as bitcoin crossed $94,000 on Tuesday, rising 4.5% in the last 24 hours. Even though spot bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $60.5 million in outflows on Monday, the investment vehicles have a cumulative net inflow of $57.6 billion, per SoSoValue.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.