Crypto inflows surged last week, exceeding six times the previous week. Amid the influx of capital into investment products in digital assets, two names dominated the charts: BlackRock and Ethereum.
This marks a continuous series of positive flows, raising assets under management (AuM) to a historic record of $244 billion.
Crypto inflows increase sixfold with leadership from BlackRock and Ethereum
According to the latest CoinShares report, crypto inflows rose to $3.75 billion for the week ending August 16. Compared to the week ending August 9, when crypto inflows reached $578 million, this represented an increase of 6.4 times.
James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, highlights last week’s crypto inflows as the fourth largest ever recorded. He also praises it as a strong recovery after several weeks of tepid sentiment, as revealed in recent CoinShares reports.
However, while crypto inflows rose to $3.75 billion, BlackRock's iShares was an outlier, accounting for most of the flows. With up to $3.2 billion in positive flows for the financial instrument, BlackRock’s product brought in over 86% of last week's crypto inflows.
"Unusually, almost all inflows were concentrated in a single provider, iShares, and in a specific investment product," says a snippet from the report.
Crypto Inflows Last Week in Provider Metrics. Source: CoinShares Report
BlackRock's dominance occurs while its financial vehicle, iShares, remains one of the most popular instruments offering institutional investors indirect access to crypto.
To provide context, Harvard University, one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in the world, chose BlackRock's IBIT ETF as its entry point into the crypto market.
Along the same lines, recent reports indicated that 75% of BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF clients were first-time buyers. This points to the appeal of the asset manager and the level of confidence it inspires, even among newcomers.
Less than a month ago, inflows from BlackRock's Ethereum ETF surpassed its Bitcoin fund. The outcome explains why BlackRock's dominance in crypto inflows occurs alongside Ethereum's weight.
Ethereum contributed 77% to last week's crypto inflows
While BlackRock accounted for over 86%, Ethereum was also a significant player, bringing in 77% of the total weekly inflows.
"Ethereum continues to steal the spotlight, with inflows totaling a record $2.87 billion last week... the inflows far exceed Bitcoin, with year-to-date inflows representing 29% of AuM compared to 11.6% for Bitcoin," Butterfill added.
It is worth noting that Bitcoin saw modest inflows compared to Ethereum, bringing in $552 million in positive flows.
Crypto Inflows Last Week in Asset Metrics. Source: CoinShares Report
This adds to the series of weeks in which Ethereum dominated crypto inflows in asset metrics, effectively surpassing Bitcoin. Among other instances, Ethereum recently propelled crypto inflows to a weekly record of $4.39 billion.
In recent weeks, investor sentiment has favored Ethereum over Bitcoin. The attention has been driven by the recent buzz around Ethereum, catalyzed by institutions adopting corporate treasuries based on ETH.
Tokenized assets also surged to a record $270 billion as institutions progressively standardize on Ethereum.
In this context, analysts say that the price of Ethereum may be on track to reach the $5,000 mark, nearly 20% above current levels.
The article BlackRock and Ethereum Drive Crypto Inflows to $3.75 Billion was first seen on BeInCrypto Brazil.
