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BlackRock sees potential in spot Ethereum ETF, despite slower uptake compared to Bitcoin

Vivian Nguyen

Oct. 1, 2024

ETHA's performance has been underwhelming compared to IBIT's.

Key Takeaways

ETHA reached $1 billion in AUM but has not seen explosive growth compared to IBIT.
BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF quickly reached $2 billion in AUM, outpacing ETHA.

BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF, also known as ETHA, has seen slower growth than its Bitcoin counterpart but Robert Mitchnick, the company’s head of digital assets, remains optimistic about its long-term prospects, especially considering its rapid accumulation of assets under management (AUM).

“It’s very rare that you see an ETF get to a billion AUM in seven weeks, as ETHA did,” said Mitchnick, speaking at the Messari Mainnet conference in New York this week. “In most cases, it takes multiple years to never for a new ETF to get to a billion.”

Launched in July following the SEC’s surprising approval, it took ETHA less than a month to reach $1 billion in net inflows. As of September 30, ETHA’s Ethereum holdings exceeded 380,601 ETH, valued at around $1 billion.

Despite lagging behind BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), which amassed $2 billion in AUM within just 15 days of its launch, ETHA is still among the world’s top performing crypto ETFs.

The stagnant performance is not entirely unexpected for BlackRock and other ETF experts. Mitchnick believes that the investment story and narrative for Ethereum are “less easy” for investors to “digest.”

“So that’s a big part of why we’re so committed to the education journey that we’re on with a lot of our clients,” he explained.

BlackRock’s head of digital assets said that he did not expect ETHA to ever reach the same level of flows and AUM as IBIT, but saw the current performance as a “good start.”

Speaking at the Bitcoin 2024 convention in Nashville in July, Mitchnick said the company’s client base is primarily interested in Bitcoin, followed by Ethereum. There is “very little” demand for crypto ETFs beyond the two leading crypto assets, he noted.

For BlackRock, Bitcoin and Ethereum offer complementary benefits, rather than competing for the same role. Mitchnick predicted that investors would allocate 20% of their crypto holdings to Ethereum and the remaining 80% to Bitcoin.

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