According to data compiled by SoSoValue, February 3rd witnessed a significant surge in investment into Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with a total net inflow of $83.54 million.
The substantial influx represents a notable increase in investor confidence and participation in the Ethereum market via this increasingly popular investment vehicle. Driving this surge was the exceptional performance of Fidelity’s Ethereum ETF, FETH, which alone attracted a net inflow of $49.7493 million on the same day.
The impressive daily performance builds upon FETH’s already considerable success. Since its inception, its cumulative net inflow has reached a staggering $1.462 billion.
Ethereum Price Action
The ETH ETF inflows news follows Ethereum’s recent volatile performance. Earlier this week, Ethereum experienced its largest single-day drop since May 2021, losing over 17.8% of its value and triggering $611 million in ETH long and short liquidations.
United States President Donald Trump announced steep tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico. Following this announcement, Ethereum plunged over 20%, trading below $2,500. Both nations then imposed retaliatory tariffs.
Ethereum also hit its lowest level against Bitcoin in almost five years. Nonetheless, Trump’s plans to pause proposed tariffs on Canada fueled a rebound in today’s trading.
Since its last significant price decline, Ethereum has demonstrated a notable recovery, rebounding to $2,805.84. This represents a substantial 10.0% increase, signaling a potential shift in market sentiment and sparking renewed optimism within the cryptocurrency space, according to Coingecko data.
High-profile figures, including Eric Trump, Trump’s third son, have voiced support for Ethereum. Eric Trump recently tweeted that it’s “a great time to add $ETH.”
ETH Network Raises Gas Limit
Validators raised the Ethereum network’s gas limit for the first time in almost three years. The previous gas limit increase, from 15m to a cap of 30m, occurred during the token’s hard fork to a proof-of-stake blockchain in August 2022.
Ethereum’s gas limit reached 32m earlier today, according to Gaslimit.pics, which tracks voting on gas limit increases, shows validators approved the move by a 52% to 48% margin.
Gas limits have historically sparked debate within the Ethereum community. Many, including Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin in a Reddit post, advocated for higher limits to lower transaction fees. Others, however, highlighted the potential risks to the network from sudden increases.
Some Ethereum Foundation researchers warned that gas limits exceeding 40 million could fail to propagate correctly and create bottlenecks.