The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, amended its S-1 form for its proposed spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), revealing a “Seed Capital Investor,” affiliated with BlackRock, purchased the initial shares for the proposed product at $25 per share for a total of $10 million.

JPMorgan has predicted that demand for spot Ether ETFs is set to be significantly lower when compared to their Bitcoin counterparts for several reasons, expecting these funds to attract as much as $3 billion in net inflows for the rest of the year.

Cryptocurrency losses from hacks and scams fell by 12% year-over-year in May, with the month seeing a total of $52 million stolen, down from over $59 million in May 2023.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

•   BlackRock Amends Spot Ether ETF Application
•   JPMorgan Predicts Lower Demand for Spot Ether ETFs
•   Cryptocurrency Losses from Hacks and Scams Down 12% in May
•   Crypto Market Movers – PEPE, JASMY, ONDO

 

BlackRock Amends Spot Ether ETF Application

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, amended its S-1 form for its proposed spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF), revealing a “Seed Capital Investor,” affiliated with BlackRock, purchased the initial shares for the proposed product at $25 per share for a total of $10 million.

Investors in the ETF would typically be able to redeem their shares for cash or the underlying Ether cryptocurrency, subject to regulatory approval, and the fund is set to trade under the ticker symbol "ETHA."

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas revealed he views the updated filing as a positive development and noted the fund launching by the end of June is a “legit possibility.”

This news follows the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) approval of several applications from major stock exchanges to list spot Ether ETFs, clearing the path for these products to start trading later this year.

BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has already become the world’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin fund with nearly $20 billion in assets under management after being launched in January.

JPMorgan Predicts Lower Demand for Spot Ether ETFs

JPMorgan has predicted that demand for spot Ether ETFs is set to be significantly lower when compared to their Bitcoin counterparts for several reasons, expecting these funds to attract as much as $3 billion in net inflows for the rest of the year.

In a research report the firm noted that if staking is permitted, this figure could rise to as much as $6 billion, with analysts, led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, attributing this disparity to Bitcoin's "first mover advantage," which they believe may have already satiated institutional investor appetite for crypto exposure.

Last week the SEC approved several applications from major stock exchanges to list spot Ether ETFs in the country, but before trading can begin the regular still has to greenlight the registration statements of individual ETF issuers.

JPMorgan further highlighted Bitcoin’s recent halving – a pre-programmed event that cuts Bitcoin mining rewards in half – as an additional factor that boosted demand for Bitcoin ETFs, noting no such event exists for Ether on the horizon.

The report adds that the approved spot Ether ETFs do not offer staking, which makes these funds less attractive when compared to other solutions that offer staking yields and exposure to the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

JPMorgan’s analysts also shared that Ether has a different value proposition, as Bitcoin has a “broader appeal by competing with gold in portfolio allocations.”

Cryptocurrency Losses from Hacks and Scams Down 12% in May

Cryptocurrency losses from hacks and scams fell by 12% year-over-year in May, with the month seeing a total of $52 million stolen, down from over $59 million in May 2023.

This decline continues a trend observed earlier this year, according to a report by blockchain security firm Immunefi, that shows a 23% drop in losses in the first quarter of the year when compared to 2023.

The May losses were concentrated in two major attacks, with a hack of the Web3 gaming platform Gala Games resulting in roughly $21 million stolen, while a smart contract exploit targeting Sonne Finance caused $20 million in losses. Combined, these incidents accounted for nearly 80% of the total stolen funds in May.

All successful attacks in May targeted decentralized protocols, with BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum being the most targeted, and with centralized exchanges suffering no losses over the month.

Fraudulent activity remained a minor contributor to overall losses, with $1.7 million, or about 13.6%, attributed to scams, with the vast majority of stolen funds stemming from hacks and exploits.

Crypto Market Movers – PEPE, JASMY, ONDO

Several tokens are leading the charge in the last 7-day period. Some of these are well-known cryptocurrencies with more liquid trading pairs, so we’ll be focusing on these over low-cap cryptos that may have higher percentage changes.

Pepe (PEPE) – Pepe is a digital currency positioned as the next step in the evolution of meme coins, leveraging the memetic power of Pepe, a recognizable internet meme. Launched without any presale or taxes, PEPE aims to be a coin for the people, with its liquidity provider tokens burned and contract renounced.

JasmyCoin (JASMY) - JASMY is a cryptocurrency based on the ERC 20 standard. It is designed to be used for transferring tokens as a proof of value exchange or payment for services by individuals and businesses. The vision behind JasmyCoin is to build an economic community where data is treated as a personal asset, and the value of this data is returned to the individual who owns it.

Ondo (ONDO) - Ondo is a decentralized finance (DeFi) project that offers risk-isolated, fixed-yield loans backed by yield-generating crypto-assets. It is a permissionless protocol allowing users to engage in peer-to-pool interactions without intermediaries. Ondo Finance, which includes the ONDO token, is backed by Coinbase and is a part of the Ethereum ecosystem.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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