Bitcoin funds raise $306 million ahead of SEC Ethereum ETF deadline

Of course, the focus has been on Ethereum ETF hopefuls since Monday — but already trading Bitcoin ETFs have gotten a boost from the excitement.

Yesterday, $306 million worth of Bitcoin ETFs were deposited, according to Coinglass. That currency category was the biggest one-day gain since the beginning of this month.

Yesterday's spread on Bitcoin ETFs was not valid.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) took in $290 million, while the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) saw $26 million in revenue. That was replaced by Bitcoin Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL) seeing $4 million and $6 million in spending, respectively.

And Greyscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which saw net inflows of $72.5 million between May 15 and May 20, was flat on Tuesday, Coinglass data showed.

As a side note, the gap between GBTC and IBIT has now narrowed to $736 million. That's about half of what it was less than a month ago. It remains to be seen whether Greyscale's incoming CEO Peter Mintzberg will make any changes to the firm's flagship Bitcoin fund.

But why are Bitcoin ETFs so hyped for their Ethereum counterparts? Some analysts, such as Standard Chartered Bank, believe that the approval of the Ethereum ETF from the Securities and Exchange Commission could lead both assets—BTC and ETH—to new all-time highs.

The global market nearly matched that in mid-March, when Bitcoin was on a tear and currently stands at an all-time high of $73,737.94.

For Ethereum, this means chasing a price of $4,878.26—which was last November 10, 2021. That means prices are rising and the global crypto market capitalization has surpassed $3 trillion for the first time.

And there are many traders who turn to derivatives in the hope that it will do just that. Over the past day, Ethereum open interest rose by 30% to a high of $11 billion, according to Caico.

As of this morning, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation now includes the VanEck Ethereum ETF on its active and pre-launch lists. Whether this is a sign of imminent approval is hard to say, though.

Tickers for Bitcoin ETFs appeared and then disappeared on clearinghouse and settlement company listings starting in October, months before the SEC approved them for trading.