$18B Floods Into Crypto: Ethereum Steals Bitcoin’s Spotlight—Are You Paying Attention?
Crypto's money firehose just hit $18 billion—and Ethereum might be the quiet killer in the room. While Bitcoin flexes its first-mover swagger, ETH's plumbing upgrades and defi dominance are pulling institutional cash like a magnet. The 'flippening' chatter is back, but Wall Street still can't tell a smart contract from a toaster manual.
Why the stealth surge? Gas fees dropped 80% post-Merge, and staking yields beat Treasury bonds. Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETFs are busy getting memed by boomer finance bros. The real story? Ethereum's building the internet's backbone while Bitcoin plays digital gold—again.
One hedge fund manager sniffed: 'We're long both, but ETH's where the alpha's hiding.' Of course, this is the same genius who shorted Luna at $0.02. Place your bets—the smart money's looking beyond the obvious.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Lead Inflows, but Pace Moderates
According to CoinShares, bitcoin investment products saw inflows of $790 million over the past week. While still the largest among all digital assets, this amount marked a noticeable decline from the $1.5 billion average seen in the previous three weeks.
The slowdown suggests that investor sentiment toward Bitcoin may be stabilizing or turning cautious as the asset nears its all-time high of above $111,000. The moderation in inflows could reflect profit-taking behavior or reluctance to increase exposure at elevated price levels.
Ethereum, on the other hand, recorded its 11th straight week of inflows, totaling $226 million. Over the 11-week period, ethereum has attracted roughly $2.85 billion.
When measured proportionally, inflows into Ethereum products averaged 1.6% of assets under management per week, double the 0.8% average seen for Bitcoin.
This relative strength may signal a shift in preference as Ethereum continues to benefit from LAYER 2 expansion, decentralized finance (DeFi) activity, and speculation around broader use cases in tokenization and real-world asset infrastructure.
Regional Divergences in Investor Sentiment
Geographically, the United States dominated inflows with $1 billion, indicating sustained institutional interest possibly driven by regulated spot ETFs and broader macro exposure strategies.
Europe also contributed to the positive flow, with Germany and Switzerland accounting for $38.5 million and $33.7 million, respectively. However, other regions such as Canada and Brazil saw negative sentiment, with outflows of $29.3 million and $9.7 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, noted that recent price movements helped push total assets under management (AuM) to a record high of $188 billion.
Weekly trading volumes across crypto funds reached $16.3 billion, a figure consistent with the average pace seen year-to-date. The latest report from CoinShares presents a regional and asset-specific breakdown, revealing diverging trends in investor sentiment across markets.
Particularly, CoinShares’ data continues to serve as a weekly pulse check on institutional participation in crypto markets. As inflows remain elevated, investors WOULD likely watch closely for shifts in allocation trends and any signs of rotation between Bitcoin and altcoins.
If Ethereum’s proportional inflows continue to outpace those of Bitcoin, it may reinforce narratives concerning the brewing of altcoin season. For now CoinShares’ next weekly report is anticipated as it could reveal whether the momentum continues.
Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView
