Ether ETFs Are Crushing It — With $453M In a Day

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Good Monday! In today’s edition:

• 📈 ETH ETFs extend 16-day streak

• 🧠 Ex-BlackRock crypto chief joins SharpLink

• ⚖️ DOJ weighs charges for Dragonfly over Tornado Cash

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Spot Ether ETFs Extend 16-Day Inflow Streak With $453 Million

Spot ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) extended their record inflow streak to 16 consecutive days, logging $453 million in net inflows on Friday – roughly three times the inflows compared to bitcoin spot ETFs. 

BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) led the inflows with $440 million, further solidifying its dominant position with assets totaling $10.69 billion. 

Other notable inflows included Bitwise’s ETHW with nearly $10 million and Fidelity’s FETH with $7.3 million, while Grayscale’s ETHE saw redemptions of $23.49 million on the day.

Last week, spot ETH ETFs pulled in $1.85 billion, their second-strongest inflow ever, while bitcoin ETFs notched their seventh straight week of gains with $72 million added.

Ether’s recent price action reflects this growing appetite for ether-based funds, having reached an intraday high of $3,941, and surging 61% in the last four weeks alone.

However, ETH still trades 21% below its all-time high of $4,891 set in 2021, while BTC last touched a record of $123,091 just two weeks ago. 

BlackRock Veteran Joins SharpLink as Co-CEO

Former BlackRock crypto chief Joseph Chalom has joined Ethereum treasury firm SharpLink Gaming as co-CEO. 

Chalom spent two decades at BlackRock, where he led strategic ecosystem partnerships and spearheaded the asset management giant's push into digital assets and blockchain.

That included helping launch two of the largest Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) –the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the iShares Ethereum Trust – alongside BlackRock’s tokenized money market product BUIDL.

Chalom said on X that he was joining SharpLink on a clear belief that Ethereum is becoming the foundation of global finance.

“Stablecoins, tokenized assets, AI agents, are all moving onchain. And it’s happening on Ethereum,” he said.

“That’s where the future is being built.”

 Since SharpLink began its Ethereum treasury strategy, the firm has acquired 438,017 ETH valued at around $1.6 billion.

Join Ram Ahluwalia and Steven Ehrlich on Bits + Bips live today at 4:30 pm E.T. to discuss the latest in crypto and macro! Katalin Tischhauser of Sygnum Bank and Jake Ostrovoskis of Wintermute join as guests.

Don’t miss it! 

DOJ Considers Charges Against Dragonfly Over Tornado Cash Investment

U.S. federal prosecutors are considering charges against executives of crypto venture firm Dragonfly for their 2020 investment in crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) raised the possibility during the ongoing criminal trial of Tornado Cash cofounder Roman Storm, citing internal emails between Storm and Dragonfly partners Tom Schmidt and Haseeb Qureshi.

Those emails included one where Storm and other Tornado Cash developers asked for feedback on adding KYC to the platform.

Although Storm’s lawyers wanted Schmidt to testify to provide context around those early communications, he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. It remains unclear whether Schmidt will be granted immunity.

Qureshi defended Dragonfly’s investment in Tornado Cash on X, also confirming that the firm had been cooperating with the government’s investigation into the crypto mixer after having received a subpoena in 2023.

“We believe the government’s statement in court today was primarily to undermine a defense of Tornado Cash—to make it more difficult for the defense to call Tom to testify on the stand,” said Qureshi.

“We don’t believe the DOJ would actually bring such absurd and groundless charges. But if they do, we intend to vigorously defend ourselves.”

• 💰 Galaxy Digital disclosed it helped a Satoshi-era holder sell over 80,000 bitcoin, worth over $9 billion, in one of crypto’s biggest-ever trades, done as part of the seller’s estate planning.

• 🚨 Senator Elizabeth Warren warned that the GENIUS Act, now law, mirrors past deregulation disasters, accusing the crypto lobby of writing its own rules and setting the stage for future financial fallout.

• 📊 Uniswap v4 crossed $1 billion in total value locked with over $110 billion traded, as activity concentrates on Ethereum and Unichain and custom pool tools like Bunni and EulerSwap lead usage.

• 🧑‍⚖️ Crypto figure Hayden Davis said in court that LIBRA is a memecoin with no business model, as a $280 million asset freeze case tied to a USDC transfer during a Milei meeting heads to court in August.

• 📈 Binance introduced RWUSD, a stable-value investment product offering up to 4.2% returns by tracking yields from real-world assets like U.S. Treasuries, but it can’t be traded, transferred, or withdrawn like normal crypto.

• 🚫 Tyler Winklevoss claimed JPMorgan froze Gemini’s onboarding after he criticized the bank’s new data access fees, accusing the firm of trying to choke off fintech-crypto links under the guise of consumer protection.

• 📉📈 Despite crypto ownership jumping eightfold since 2018, a Gallup poll found most U.S. investors still view the asset class as too risky, with 60% expressing zero interest in ever buying in.

• 🇷🇺 Russian users are routing crypto activity through Kyrgyzstan platforms like Grinex and Meer to dodge sanctions, often using stablecoins linked to the banned exchange Garantex, says TRM Labs.

• 🇻🇳 Vietnam’s National Data Association is building a government-backed blockchain called NDAChain to improve digital trust and transparency across public services, healthcare, and finance.

• 🇯🇵 Japan’s Metaplanet added 780 more bitcoin to its balance sheet for $92.5 million, bringing its total holdings to 17,132 BTC—acquired at an average cost of $101,030 per coin.

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1. Be Water: Bitcoin TreasuryCos: Lessons From The 1929 Crash

2. Andy Constan, founder & Chief Investment Officer of Damped Spring Advisors, on why stablecoins are not a way to grow net demand for USD