Thu, December 26

Grayscale’s Massive $1B ETH Move Stirs Speculation Amid Spot ETF Launch

Grayscale Spot ETH ETF Market News
  • Grayscale moved $1B worth ETH to Coinbase prime with approaching spot ETF trading. 
  • The ETF issuer has announced the highest initial and post-waiver fees in the market.

US spot Ethereum ETFs received approval from the SEC on Monday after leading issuers filed 424(b) forms. Grayscale issuing two of the nine spot ETFs was observed transferring ETH tokens worth $1.01 billion from its Coinbase Prime deposit onto the platform’s Hot Wallet 8 hours ago. This has led to market speculations, while some analysts have seen this as preparation for the ETF launch, others expressed uncertainty. 

According to Arkham Intelligence data, the ETF issuer transferred 292.263K ETH tokens to the Coinbase Prime Exchange. Following this, Coinbase Hot Wallet, which received the $1.01 billion worth of tokens, transferred the funds to different wallets of the Grayscale Mini trust. The Grayscale wallet currently holds 2.959 ETH tokens worth $10.20 billion. 

Notably, when Grayscale initiated the transactions, market speculations rose. Analysts perceived the move as Grayscale attempting to rotate ETH for another altcoin such as SOL. 

However, Nexyst Digital’s managing partner Jon Campagna, in his X account stated that the issuer is funding its Ethereum Mini ETF (ETH). The ETF giant is also issuing Grayscale spot Ethereum ETF with a ticker ETHE. 

Jon Campagna tweeted: 

“ In order to fund the 1/10 or 10% of the $10B AUM that ETHE has…they moved $1B, or 10% to Coinbase prime…Just as they stated they would do a week ago.” 

The US-based ETF issuer has received severe criticisms from market analysts for its high fees on spot ETFs. Grayscale currently has announced the highest initial fee and post-waiver fee in the market. 

What is Grayscale Aiming with Two Spot ETH ETFs? 

Bloomberg’s ETF analyst, Eirc Balchunas also discussed Grayscale’s high fees. The issuer announced a standard fee of 2.50% for both initial and post-waiver periods. Its other competitors such as Franklin Templeton and VanEck have announced zero initial fees attempting to attract investors. 

Moreover, Balchunas predicted that the high fees might cause Grayscale to see increased outflows. Additionally, he stated that the mini ETF on the other hand, might be extremely cheap. 

In the past weeks, Grayscale’s movements within the spot Ethereum ETFs sector have been quoted as ‘dynamic’ and ‘interesting’ by market analysts. Meanwhile, despite the SEC’s approval, ETH prices haven’t yet priced in the ETF launch. 

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A passionate writer who is exploring the world of crypto. In my spare time I write poetry and read novels.

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