According to Cointelegraph, Ether has experienced its most significant monthly return in three years, rising by 56%. This surge has been compared to the performance of '90s tech stocks, driven by substantial inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Currently, Ether is trading at $3,862, a notable increase from its July 1 opening price of $2,468, as reported by CoinGecko. This marks the first instance since July 2022 that Ether has achieved a monthly return of 50% or more, when it rose by 56.62%, according to CoinGlass.
Eric Balchunas, a Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, attributes Ether's recent price surge to the net inflows observed across spot Ether ETFs. He likened Ether's growth to the rapid adoption and network expansion seen in fledgling tech stocks during the '90s, contrasting it with Bitcoin's 'new gold' narrative. Spot Ether ETFs have maintained a 19-day net inflow streak this month, equaling their longest streak in history. From July 3 to July 30, these funds accumulated over $5.37 billion, with the highest net inflow recorded on July 16, amounting to nearly $727 million. Notably, BlackRock's iShares Ethereum ETF became the third-fastest ETF to reach the $10 billion milestone, achieving this in just 251 days. In a rare occurrence, net inflows into Ether ETFs surpassed those into Bitcoin ETFs for six consecutive days in July.
Despite the price rally, some analysts express concerns about the level of activity on the Ethereum network. Markus Thielen, CEO of 10x Research, noted that the revenue generated on the Ethereum network remains low, with no significant increase in the past six months. Over the past month, network activity has risen by only 5%, and revenues have increased by just 3%, according to Thielen. He also pointed out that 90% of the recent price action has originated from the Asian time zone. Thielen recalled November 2021, when Ethereum generated $1.5 billion in revenue in a single month with a market capitalization of $300 billion, translating to an annual yield of 6%, which was attractive to institutional investors. However, the current scenario is different, with Ethereum's market capitalization at $466 billion and its yearly revenue at only $764 million, as per Token Terminal.
