Ether ETFs Trade Over $500 Million in Strong Crypto Fund Debut

(Bloomberg) -- The first US ETFs that invest directly in Ether are posting relatively high trading volumes for first-day fund debuts, with more than half of one billion dollars changing hands in the first several hours after the market open.

Over $500 million shares traded between the nine exchange-traded funds. While that’s far from the $4.6 billion traded during the launch of spot-Bitcoin ETFs in January, it’s still a strong start for first-day ETFs. Several of the funds are poised to finish the day among the top 50 highest-traded US ETF debuts of all time.

BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ticker ETHA) has seen $119 million worth of shares exchanging hands as of 12:30 p.m. in New York, which is around the 38th-highest first-day traded value, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. A product from crypto-native firm Bitwise Asset Management Inc. (ETHW) also saw solid demand, with turnover exceeding $64 million. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust, which converted into an ETF, traded around $220 million at the same time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.