ETHUSD, after a steady decline during the initial four months of the year, has made a remarkable comeback, posting a gain of over 65% in the past month. This surge in value is attributed to a “demand shock” from exchange-traded products (ETPs) and corporate treasuries, according to Matt Hougan, Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer, in a recent interview.
Hougan drew parallels between Ethereum and Bitcoin’s performance over the past one and a half years. ETPs and corporate treasuries’ massive buying spree have been a significant driver for Bitcoin’s upward trajectory, consuming more than 100% of all newly minted Bitcoin.
However, Ethereum had not enjoyed the same trend until recently. Ether ETFs, which launched in July 2024, only managed to attract about $2.5 billion until mid-May. This situation has been drastically reversed recently, with spot ETH ETFs purchasing the asset at an unprecedented rate. Bitwise estimates that ETPs and corporate treasuries combined have bought 2.83 million ETH since May 15, amounting to over $10 billion at current prices. This is 32 times the net new supply during the same period.
Hougan believes this trend will persist as investors are “significantly underweight” in Ethereum compared to Bitcoin. Furthermore, the growing market for real-world asset tokenization and the implementation of stablecoin regulations will further increase Ethereum’s demand.
BitMEX founder, Arthur Hayes, agreed with this outlook in his recent blog post, predicting that Ether’s price would soar to $10,000 by year-end. Ether prices are currently consolidating around $3,720 after encountering resistance at $3,800 thrice.
Over the past month, Ether has outperformed Bitcoin with an impressive 67% gain from around $2,250, where it was trading in June.
