BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has just made history. The Ethereum-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) reached $10 billion in assets under management (AUM), making it the third-fastest ETF to do so in the 32-year history of the ETF industry. This milestone highlights the rapidly growing investor interest in Ethereum and comes as part of a broader wave of institutional involvement in crypto assets.
According to data from Bloomberg, ETHA reached the $10 billion milestone in just 251 days. Only two other funds—BlackRock’s own iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund—achieved that benchmark faster, taking just 34 and 53 days, respectively. However, while ETHA may have started slower than its Bitcoin counterparts, its recent growth has been explosive.
In the past 10 days alone, ETHA has doubled in size, surging from $5 billion to $10 billion. This is the shortest time frame on record for an ETF to add $5 billion in assets. Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas called the development “very weird stuff,” noting that he has never seen an ETF grow that fast. He attributed the spike to a powerful combination of asset price growth and strong fund inflows.
“A lot of that growth is due to price increases, but the flows were really robust too,” Balchunas explained. “So it was a nice combination of both.”
The price of Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has played a significant role in the ETF’s performance. On Monday, ETH approached $3,850, its highest level since December, before settling around $3,710—a 3.5% dip from the peak, according to CoinGecko. The dramatic increase in Ethereum’s price has been a key factor behind the ETF’s rapid growth, but it’s not the only one.
ETF.com’s Senior Analyst Sumit Roy said in a message to Decrypt that he was surprised by how long it took ETF investors to fully embrace Ethereum, especially following the quick success of Bitcoin spot ETFs. However, he noted that everything changed over the past few weeks as enthusiasm over stablecoins and Ethereum-based treasury strategies began to surge.
“That all changed over the past few weeks as the mania over stablecoins and Ethereum Treasury companies gave the asset a shot in the arm,” Roy said.
Indeed, Ethereum’s recent momentum has been bolstered by several positive developments in the regulatory and institutional landscape. One of the most notable is the recent passage of the GENIUS Act under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration. The legislation, widely seen as crypto-friendly, is expected to create a more favorable environment for digital assets, especially Ethereum, which serves as the backbone for most stablecoin transactions and decentralized finance applications.
This friendly regulatory shift has helped boost confidence among institutional investors. The first three days of the current week alone saw over $1.1 billion in inflows into nine U.S.-listed Ethereum ETFs, according to U.K. asset manager Farside Investors. These inflows are not only boosting fund performance but also sending a strong signal that Ethereum is entering a new phase of mainstream adoption.
Despite the ETH ETFs’ impressive progress, they still trail far behind their Bitcoin counterparts. The 12 Bitcoin spot ETFs combined now manage more than $140 billion in assets, with BlackRock’s IBIT leading the pack at over $70 billion AUM. However, ETH ETFs are gaining momentum quickly, and industry experts believe they could continue to close the gap if current trends persist.
Investor interest in Ethereum is not just about price speculation. Increasingly, companies are integrating Ethereum into their balance sheet strategies. For example, digital media firm GameSquare recently purchased a rare CryptoPunk NFT for $5.15 million using preferred shares and plans to borrow stablecoins against the Ethereum-based asset. Moves like this underscore Ethereum’s expanding role in corporate finance, digital identity, and on-chain collateralization.
Adding to this dynamic is the growing interest in Ethereum treasuries—firms that hold large reserves of ETH as a strategic asset. With stablecoin activity surging on the Ethereum network, more companies are looking to Ethereum not just as a technology platform but as a financial asset with long-term potential.
Balchunas likened the relationship between Ethereum’s price and ETF flows to a dance: “Flows and the price are like tangoing,” he said. “I don’t think the flows make the price go up. I don’t think the price makes the flows go up 100%. They feed off each other, but it’s not one for one. It’s a chicken or egg question.”
As Ethereum continues to gain ground, the performance of ETHA and other Ethereum ETFs will likely be a key metric to watch. For now, BlackRock’s ETF dominance extends beyond Bitcoin, and Ethereum’s future looks more promising than ever as institutional investors, favorable legislation, and rising asset prices converge to fuel growth.
With Ethereum’s price, ecosystem usage, and institutional participation all surging, BlackRock’s $10 billion milestone may just be the beginning of a much larger wave of capital moving into the Ethereum economy.
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