Headline: Spot Ethereum ETFs Outpace New Ether Supply Post-The Merge, Causing Market Surge Translation: Spot Ethereum ETFs Outpace New Ether Supply Post-The Merge, Causing Market Surge

Spot exchange-traded funds based on the second-largest cryptocurrency in the United States garnered $2.45 billion in a month, which is roughly equivalent to 500,000 ETH. Since the update of The Merge, the network has issued 456,723 ETH.

This week also recorded a historic influx, with investors pouring $2.27 billion into nine spot Ethereum ETFs.

Analysts at Standard Chartered noted that demand is bolstered by «treasury» firms such as BitMine and SharpLink. Since June, they have acquired 2.3 million ETH (1.9% of the market supply). During the same period, exchange-traded funds have accumulated 3.8% of Ethereum’s issuance.

Standard Chartered forecasted the price of Ethereum to reach $7,500 by the end of the year. Experts believe companies will continue to purchase and may increase their total holdings up to 10% of the coin’s total supply.

BTC Markets analyst Rachel Lucas considers these accumulations to be strategic and long-term. She stated that this «removes significant liquidity from the market.»

«When record inflows into ETFs are combined with corporate and sovereign investments, a deep structural demand emerges amid limited supply. This is a recipe for sustainable price pressure and a sign that digital assets have firmly entered the global capital markets,» she concluded.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading around $4,750, nearing its all-time high of $4,878 recorded in January, according to CoinGecko.

The average daily number of transactions in the Ethereum network hovers near historical highs, exceeding 1.8 million.

In comparison, L2 networks Arbitrum and Base processed over 3.4 million and 8.6 million transactions, respectively, during the same period. The competing first-layer blockchain Aptos recorded 3.8 million transactions on August 11.

The number of active addresses in Ethereum has remained relatively stable since 2018, fluctuating between 400,000 and 600,000, with occasional spikes above 1 million.

Transaction fees on the Ethereum mainnet have been declining since 2022. The situation worsened due to the Dencun update in March 2024, which significantly lowered transactional costs for L2 solutions.

The upgrade encouraged users to switch to cheaper solutions to avoid high fees on the mainnet, which could reach up to $50 per transaction during peak times.

High-performance first-layer blockchains like Solana and Sui are also competing for market share and user attention. This compels the Ethereum Foundation to adapt to changes and reassess its scaling roadmap.

Mark Bouwaron, head of Polygon Labs, stated to Cointelegraph that attempting to compete directly with new L1 networks on metrics like throughput could be «dangerous» for Ethereum.

Fundstrat forecasted Ethereum’s price to reach $15,000 by the end of 2025. According to co-founder Tom Lee, the asset will become the «biggest macro trade» in the next 10 to 15 years.

He emphasized that advancements in artificial intelligence and the widespread adoption of blockchain technology on Wall Street will contribute to this growth.

Sean Farrell, head of digital asset research at Fundstrat, noted that Ethereum’s price could reach $12,000–15,000 by year-end, indicating that «the growth potential remains significant.»

Lee explained that Wall Street’s interest will be fueled by upcoming regulations for stablecoins and the initiative SEC Project Crypto, aimed at modernizing the agency. He added that most «stablecoins» and projects by major financial firms are built on Ethereum.

The expert also highlighted that since the beginning of the year, Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin in terms of returns: +28% compared to +18%, respectively.

In the past month, Circle has issued 5.5 billion USDC on the Solana network. According to analysts at Lookonchain, this influx of new capital could serve as a catalyst for Ethereum’s price growth.

«Want to know where ETH’s price is heading? Follow the issuance of USDC,» Lookonchain advised.

It’s worth noting that cryptocurrency trader under the alias Yashasedu predicted that the second-largest cryptocurrency will reach $8,500 if Bitcoin’s price exceeds $150,000.