Ether Gains Momentum Over Bitcoin as BlackRock Anchors ETF Comeback

Here’s a refined and more concise rewrite:

This isn’t a broad-based rally. Bitcoin has gained around 4% over the same period, while solana, TRON, and hyperliquid have all moved lower.

Ether is the only large-cap crypto showing clear strength this week, and its advance isn’t fully explained by the softer U.S. inflation data that boosted markets on Tuesday.

As of Thursday, ether was trading near $1,920, up 2.2% on the day and about 11% over the past week, with a market cap of roughly $231 billion and around $12 billion in daily volume. Bitcoin sat near $64,600, slipping 0.3% on the day but still up 4.2% for the week. Outside of these two, most major tokens are in decline.

Solana is down 1.1% to $77 and remains negative for the week. TRON has dropped to $0.32, off 1.6%, while hyperliquid’s HYPE has fallen 1.8% to $66, down 1.7% over seven days. XRP, BNB, and dogecoin have each posted gains of just over 2% — far below ether’s performance.

Two main factors appear to be supporting ether.

First, U.S. spot ether ETFs are seeing renewed inflows. Data from SoSoValue shows $96 million has flowed into these funds in the first three days of the week, already exceeding last week’s $84 million total. This follows a period of outflows in late June, including $82 million withdrawn on June 25.

Bitcoin ETF flows, by contrast, remain volatile. Funds recorded $424 million in outflows on July 13, followed by $181 million in inflows the next day — suggesting short-term positioning rather than consistent institutional buying.

As a result, ether demand is highly concentrated. Of the $53.8 million in inflows on Wednesday, BlackRock’s ETHA fund accounted for $45.3 million, with its smaller ETHB fund adding $4 million. The remaining ETF products split less than $5 million combined.

Meanwhile, Grayscale’s original ether trust — which charges a 2.5% fee compared to BlackRock’s 0.25% — has seen cumulative outflows of $5.3 billion since launch.

Ether has also gained a new demand driver. Robinhood Chain, the brokerage’s layer-2 network launched on July 1, uses ether for gas fees and settles on Ethereum. It is already processing more than $800 million in daily decentralized exchange volume, much of it tied to memecoin trading.

Despite uneven ETF flows, bitcoin itself remains relatively steady. Nansen data shows continued exchange outflows even as Middle East tensions rise, with no significant shift into stablecoins — typically a sign of investors pulling back.

Funding rates remain near neutral, indicating that the overleveraged long positions behind June’s liquidation wave have largely been flushed out. Bitcoin dominance stands at 58.3%.