Ether Surges to 7-Month High, Outshines Bitcoin on BlackRock ETF Plans; Altcoins Plunge

Ether

(ETH)
stole
the
spotlight
from
bitcoin

(BTC)
Thursday
as
asset
management
giant
BlackRock
(BLK)
laid
the
groundwork
to
list
an
ETH
exchange-traded
fund.

ETH

surged
past
$2,000
early
U.S.
morning
hours
from
below
$1,900
after
a
filing
showed
a
corporate
entity
named
“iShares
Ethereum
Trust”
had
been
registered
in
the
state
of
Delaware
–
the
legal
home
of
many
U.S.
businesses.
Something
similar
happened
in
June
with
BlackRock’s
iShares
Bitcoin
Trust
–
the
Delaware
corporate
registration
came
just
before
the
actual
ETF
application.

History
repeated
itself
Thursday.
Hours
after
the
Delaware
filing,
a
Nasdaq
filing

confirmed
BlackRock’s
plan
for
an
ether-focused
ETF.

Bitcoin
hit
a
fresh
18-month
high
price,
soaring
to
just
shy
of
$38,000
from
around
$35,000
in
a
short
squeeze
early
morning
BlackRock
ETH
news,
though,
BTC
saw
a
sharp
reversal,
sinking
to
around
$36,300.

ETH
was
up
10%
over
the
past
24
hours,
while
BTC
advanced
3%
over
the
past
24
hours.

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more:



Wild
Bitcoin,
Ether
Price
Swings
Spur
$400M
of
Crypto
Liquidations,
the
Most
Since
August

While
ETH
and
BTC
showed
strength,
most
alternative
cryptocurrencies
–
altcoins
–
retreated
during
the
day,
paring
back
their
gains
from
the
previous
days
as
capital
rotation
to
smaller
tokens
seemingly
halted.

Ripple’s
XRP,
dogecoin

(DOGE),
uniswap

(UNI)
and
Stellar’s
XLM
declined
6%-7%,
while
toncoin

(TON)
pulled
back
10%
after
its
over
20%
rally
over
the
past
week.

Governance
tokens
of
top
ETH
liquid
staking
platforms
defied
the
plunge,
with
Lido’s

(LDO)
and
RocketPool’s

(RPL)

rising
18%
and
23%,
respectively.

The
divergence
between
the
two
largest
crypto
assets
and
the
rest
of
the
market
was
visible
in
the
performance
of
the
CoinDesk
Market
Index

(CMI)
sectors.
Only
the
ETH-heavy
Smart
Contract
Platform
sector
and
BTC-led
Currencies
sector
booked
gains
during
the
day
as
the
rest
of
the
crypto
sectors
plummeted.

The
altcoin
weakness
was
perhaps
buoyed
by
a
generally
risk-off
day
on
traditional
markets
after
Federal
Reserve
Chair
Jerome
Powell
said
the
central
bank
won’t
hesitate
to
hike
interest
rates
if
necessary,
pouring
cold
water
on
expectations
of
a
more
dovish
monetary
policy.

U.S.
equities
tumbled,
ending
their
winning
streak
with
the
S&P
500
and
Nasdaq
indexes
down
almost
1%.

Market
observers
opined
that
a
spot
BTC
ETF,
if
approved,
could
attract
sophisticated
investors
who
previously
couldn’t
or
didn’t
feel
comfortable
to
buy
crypto.
While
there
are
several
futures-based
bitcoin
and
ether
ETFs
on
the
market,
they
are
deemed
inferior
products
due
to
rollover
costs.

“If
act
one
is
a
spot
bitcoin
ETF,
then
act
two
is
a
spot
ether
ETF,”
said
Diogo
Monica,
president
of
federally
chartered
digital
asset
bank
Anchorage
Digital.

“A
spot
ETH
ETF
would
have
a
similar
impact
as
a
BTC
counterpart,
providing
a
regulated
and
accessible
wrapper
for
institutions
and
consumers
to
participate
in
the
ETH
ecosystem,”
he
explained
in
an
emailed
note.

“But
Ethereum
adds
an
extra
layer
of
intrigue
as
a
proof-of-stake
asset,
which
means
underlying
ETH
could
also
be
staked
for
additional
rewards,”
he
added.