by Chris Lion 
The transfer occurred one day before the first US spot Ether ETFs are set to begin trading on July 23.
Leading crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments has transferred $1 billion in ETH to crypto giant Coinbase before the launch of spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States.
According to data provider iChaininfo, about 10% of the 292,000 Ether was moved from Coinbase’s hot wallet to the Grayscale Mini Trust address.
The transaction occurred a day before US spot Ether ETFs launch, which will commence trading on July 23. The billion-dollar transfer implies that Grayscale is setting aside funds in advance for the ETF launch.
Coinbase will act as the custodian for eight recently approved Ether ETFs. The platform already serves as the custodian for 10 out of the 11 existing spot Bitcoin ETFs.
SEC Grants Final Regulatory Approval to Ether ETFs
On July 22, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the green light to the final S-1 registration statements required for the ETFs to debut on stock markets.
The approved issuers of the Ether ETFs are BlackRock, Fidelity, 21Shares, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, VanEck, and Invesco Galaxy.
Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, whereas BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust will be traded on the Nasdaq.
According to Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, Grayscale’s fund has the lowest waiver fee of 0.15% among the potential Ether ETF issuers.
Institutional Crypto Interest on the Rise
Commenting on the latest development, Eugene Cheung, head of institutions at Bybit, noted that institutional investors were more optimistic about Ether than retail investors a week before the ETF launch.
Data shows that institutional investors increased their Ether holdings significantly, from 6.54% to 14.29%. On the other hand, retail investor allocation grew from 7.4% to 9.52% in the same timeframe, indicating a positive outlook on ETH price.
ETH Price Prediction
With spot ether ETFs set to start trading soon, experts believe the cryptocurrency is poised for significant gains in the coming months.
For instance, Matt Hougan, Bitwise Asset Management’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO), thinks that launching the ETF would propel ETH prices to new levels, exceeding $5,000.
At the time of writing, ETH is currently trading above $3400, up 0.96% in the last 24 hours.
