The price of the leading altcoin Ethereum (ETH) fell again on Wednesday. However, there are signs that professional traders are warming up to the asset as the much-anticipated “Merge” approaches. Here are the details…
CoinShares data: Fund inflow increases for leading altcoin
Fund manager CoinShares reports in its digital asset fund flows weekly report that Ethereum-based products have seen entry for the third week in a row. There was an inflow of $7.6 million for institutional Ethereum funds. On the other hand, the ones for Bitcoin (BTC) continued to exit with a loss of $ 1.7 million. Citing Ethereum funds, CoinShares said:
The entries have endured 11 consecutive weeks of exits, peaking the 2022 exits at $460 million. Thus, there appears to be a modest return in sentiment.
He added that the change in sentiment could be due to an increased likelihood that the Merge will happen later this year. cryptocoin.com As we reported, Merge is a highly anticipated Ethereum upgrade that changes the consensus mechanism from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS). It is currently preparing for a final test run. Merge is expected to happen before October.
Loss in Bitcoin-based funds
In late June, institutional investors began returning capital to Ethereum-based funds for a week. Meanwhile, record outflows of $423 million were seen, mostly from Bitcoin-based funds. Over the period, there was a total inflow of $14.6 million, but short Bitcoin funds generated $6.3 million. This shows that investors are still bearish against the biggest cryptocurrency. U.S. funds and exchanges saw a similar percentage in the week ended July 8, totaling $8.2 million, of which 76 percent were short positions.
Institutional investors’ warming to Ethereum was not reflected in the asset’s spot price today. According to CoinGecko, ETH is currently trading at $1,047, down 2.9 percent over the past 24 hours. It lost 28 percent last month. Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency community on Twitter is busy debating whether ETH should be classified as a security. Bitcoin maximalists sided with MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, who last week said that ETH is “clearly” a security. However, the issue has been widely discussed by Ethereum advocates, including Vitalik Buterin.
At the time of writing, Ethereum (ETH) is trading at $1,071, up 0.2 percent. In the last seven days, it has experienced a decrease of 5.6 percent. Altcoin ranks second with a market cap of $128 billion.
