Ethereum ETF Rebounds... But Institutional Funds Still 'Lean Towards Bitcoin'

▲ Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC)

Although the Ethereum (Ethereum, ETH) spot ETF has shown a recovery in net inflows, the gap with the Bitcoin (Bitcoin, BTC) spot ETF has widened to over 391%, indicating that institutional funds are still leaning towards Bitcoin.

According to The Crypto Basic on May 15 (local time), Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart stated that the gap in investment demand between the Ethereum spot ETF and the Bitcoin spot ETF remains significant. Seyffart pointed out that while the Ethereum spot ETF has recently recorded moderate net inflows, moving away from past periods of large outflows, institutional demand falls far short of the strong trend seen in the Bitcoin spot ETF.

The cumulative net inflow for the Ethereum spot ETF fell to minus $790 million in September 2024, struggling to secure initial investment demand. Although market conditions gradually improved thereafter, cumulative net inflow remained at approximately minus $660 million by the end of 2024.

The trend changed in 2025. The Ethereum spot ETF surpassed $3 billion in cumulative net inflows in February 2025 as institutional fund allocation increased, and the growth rate accelerated in the second half of the same year. The strongest growth period was October 2025, when cumulative net inflows at one point approached $15 billion.

However, the inflow momentum slowed after peaking in October 2025. The cumulative net inflow for the Ethereum spot ETF gradually decreased thereafter, stabilizing around $11.82 billion in May 2026, and recorded $11.93 billion at the time of writing, according to Farside Investors data.

The gap with the Bitcoin spot ETF remains overwhelming. The cumulative net inflow for the Bitcoin spot ETF exceeded $58.6 billion at the time of writing, which is more than 391% higher than the total net inflow for the Ethereum spot ETF. Although the Bitcoin spot ETF was launched in the U.S. in January 2024 and the Ethereum spot ETF in May 2024, a difference of only five months in launch times, institutional investors showed a much stronger preference for Bitcoin-centric products.

The Crypto Basic reported that Bitcoin is perceived as a store of value and a relatively stable entry point into the cryptocurrency market, while Ethereum tends to be evaluated as a technology-driven, high-risk asset closely linked to blockchain innovation and decentralized applications. Although the recent recovery in Ethereum spot ETF net inflows is interpreted as a sign of stabilizing investor sentiment, the focus of institutional fund allocation remains on the Bitcoin spot ETF.

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