Key Points
- Grayscale transferred $1 billion worth of ETH to Coinbase on July 22.
- Later today, ETH ETFs in the US are set to go live.
According to the latest reports, on July 22, Grayscale transferred $1 billion worth of Ethereum to Coinbase. This is most likely a sign that the asset manager was preparing for the launch of ETH ETFs in the US.
Data provider iChaininfo shared a post on X today, July 23, revealing that about 10% of the 292,000 ETH was transferred from the Coinbase hot wallet to the Grayscale Mini Trust or wallet 0xab3.
The billion-dollar transfer came a day before the expected launch of the first batch of Ethereum ETFs in the US today.
The move suggests that Grayscale is pre-seeding funds to prepare for the ETF launch.
The crypto exchange Coinbase will be the custodian for 8 of the 9 newly approved Ethereum ETFs.
According to official notes, the exchange is already the custodian that's powering 10 of the 11 existing Bitcoin ETFs, as they noted in an announcement from July 22.
US SEC Approves 9 ETH ETFs
As Coinbase noted in their official announcement from yesterday, the SEC's approval of 9 ETH ETFs is another important milestone for the expansion of the crypto economy.
They mentioned the launch and success of Bitcoin ETFs which saw their launch in January 2024, and highlighted that Ethereum ETFs will continue to unlock diversified pools of new investors to trigger long-term growth and product innovation.
Coinbase also said that they are focused on building the most trusted products in the crypto industry and moments like this one expand access to crypto and help drive an updated financial system.
Advancing Ethereum's Utility
In a post on X, Coinbase revealed that the SEC's move to approve Ethereum ETFs would offer access to a differentiated crypto asset with unique return characteristics.
They highlighted that the Ethereum ecosystem is robust, with over 15 million monthly active addresses, and expanding rapidly with 300% growth in smart contracts deployed in 2023.
Their post also shows that 52 million Americans have owned crypto, and the US ETF industry saw $8 trillion in investments, with $60 billion in total spot BTC ETF AUM.
Coinbase continued and noted that, by increasing usage of ETH, spot ETH ETF investors would help advance the coin's utility and contribute to the overall crypto ecosystem.
The products will help catalyze more growth and innovation, expanding the size and breadth of crypto markets.
