Ethereum ETF race gets interesting as Valkyrie enters the mix

• Valkyrie applied for a combined ETH and BTC ETF.
• ETH price fell, network growth and velocity of the altcoin continued to decline.

Recently, large institutions such as Blackrock have drawn a lot of attention to themselves due to their applications for BTC ETFs. These applications have stirred up interest in the king coin and added to the hype around the cryptocurrency. However, recently the companies that were applying for Bitcoin ETF, also started to apply for Ethereum[ETH]-based ETFs.

Realistic or not, here’s ETH’s market cap in BTC’s terms

Valkyrie for help

Over the last week, Valkyrie submitted a 497-form outlining their intention to transform their Bitcoin ETF into an ETF combining Bitcoin and Ether, with a projected launch date of 3 October. This timeline would put their debut two weeks ahead of the scheduled launch of the other 13 applicants.

According to Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg, there have been 14 Ethereum-based ETFs filed at press time.

The substantial influx of applicants seeking to establish Ethereum ETFs could potentially bolster a more favorable sentiment toward Ethereum. However, the past month has seen a decline in ETH’s price, with a drop to $1834.5.

Simultaneously, network growth also faltered, which indicated a diminishing interest in new addresses engaging with ETH. This trend was further accentuated by the plummeting velocity of ETH, indicative of reduced exchange activity among addresses over the last month.

Source: Santiment

No signs of green

Due to the decline in the price of ETH, the MVRV ratio for the cryptocurrency fell materially. This showed that most addresses that were holding ETH were not profitable at press time. Because of the low profitability of these addresses, the incentive for them to sell their holdings was reduced.

Along with the MVRV ratio, the long-short difference for ETH also fell. A declining long-short ratio suggested that the number of old addresses that were holding ETH started to decline.

Is your portfolio green? Check out the Ethereum Profit Calculator

Additionally, the state of the NFTs on Ethereum was also not positive. According to recent data, the Ethereum NFT market was currently undergoing a phase of turbulence, marked by a significant decrease in both activity and volume.

The data revealed that transaction volume across all Ethereum marketplaces has recently reached its lowest point since November 2022.

Source: Santiment