Ethereum ETFs Make History: Daily Inflows Surpass Bitcoin for the First Time

Flip the script—ETH just dethroned BTC in the ETF arms race.

Wall Street's new darling isn't digital gold. It's the blockchain supercomputer that's printing institutional demand while Bitcoin ETFs nurse their hangovers.

The numbers don't lie: Ethereum's financialization hit hyperspeed this week as TradFi capital flooded in. Meanwhile, Bitcoin maximalists are left scrambling to explain why their 'store of value' narrative just got outgunned by smart contract utility.

One hedge fund manager quipped: 'Turns out money likes yield more than memes.' Ouch.

Ethereum Beats Bitcoin

The spearhead was BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ticker ETHA) yesterday, which absorbed roughly $550 million—its second consecutive personal best—leap-frogging the firm’s flagship Bitcoin product IBIT on the day’s league table. According to flow data collated by Arkham Intelligence and Farside Investors, ETHA has raked in $1.25 billion over the past five sessions and now holds close to $7 billion worth of ETH, almost one-fifth of all assets parked in US Ethereum ETFs.

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart, posting on X, put the milestone in context: “As a group the US spot Ether ETFs have taken in over $5.5 billion since launch, including more than $3.3 billion since mid-April.” He noted that part of the magnetism stems from the return of a double-digit cash-and-carry basis on CME Ether futures, though futures positioning alone does not explain the depth of demand. Seyffart’s chart of CME open interest shows not only a sharp climb in nominal ETH terms but also a dollar-value trajectory that is beginning to rival early-2025 Bitcoin futures activity.

Structural tailwinds extend beyond arbitrage. Nasdaq has just filed to add native staking to BlackRock’s ETHA—a move that, if approved, WOULD let the fund earn network rewards and potentially lift its headline yield above 5 percent, making Ether ETFs a rare blend of growth asset and income instrument.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, remains the undisputed heavyweight by sheer scale. Spot BTC ETFs have amassed $53 billion in net inflows since their January 2024 debut and command more than $150 billion in assets: ETF Store president Nate Geraci reminded followers that bitcoin demand has hardly cooled, tweeting that spot BTC products logged inflows in 26 of the past 27 sessions, adding “over $10 billion” in fresh capital that is “pure & simple… institutional $$$.”

Yet Thursday’s flip in the daily standings underscores palpable momentum for Ethereum. Analysts attribute part of the shift to Ethereum-specific catalysts: a six-month high in staking yields, anticipation of SEC approval for staking-enabled ETFs by year-end, and bipartisan momentum behind the GENIUS and CLARITY bills that would hard-wire commodity status for most large-cap crypto assets.

Whether Thursday proves an inflection point or a statistical blip will depend on the sustainability of that rotation. For now, a once-unthinkable headline—Ethereum ETFs beat Bitcoin ETFs—captures the market.

At press time, ETH traded at $3,612.