(Key Points Overview)
- After the Ethereum network Pectra upgrade, related investment product capital inflows surged
- Cryptocurrency fund total inflows exceeded $7.4 billion in 2025 to date, creating a new annual high
- CF Benchmarks CEO states that Pectra upgrade makes it easier for institutions to integrate staking rewards into existing products
According to a report by cryptocurrency asset management company CoinShares on Monday, as Ethereum price approached $2,700, last week's Ethereum investment products recorded $205 million in capital inflows, showing an explosive growth compared to the previous week's $1.5 million.
Overall, investors injected $785 million into digital asset investment products (including spot ETFs) last week, driving the total inflow to over $7.4 billion in 2025 to date, creating a yearly peak. "Ethereum was the biggest highlight," noted James Butterfill, CoinShares Research Head, while Solana funds experienced $1 million in outflows during the same period.
Cryptocurrency data platform CoinGecko showed Ethereum price dropped to $2,400 on Monday, with a single-day decline of 4.3%. However, the asset has still accumulated a 50% increase over the past 30 days, significantly higher than its starting price of $1,850 this month.
CF Benchmarks CEO Sui Chung analyzed that the Pectra upgrade significantly lowered the technical barriers for institutional investors to integrate staking rewards into existing products by optimizing the staking rewards mechanism.
Despite Ethereum experiencing one of its worst performances in the first quarter, CoinShares Research Head James Butterfill told Decrypt that investors continue to add positions in the asset.
"Its price has recently experienced a significant downturn," he said, "but encouragingly, we observe massive capital inflows during this price slump."
Less than two weeks ago, Ethereum launched the first phase of the Pectra upgrade. This comprehensive upgrade includes multiple network improvements: optimizing scaling solutions aimed at maintaining low transaction fees long-term, and increasing the ETH staking limit for individual validator nodes—a move that will further enhance the network's overall operational efficiency.
While Ethereum funds performed impressively, Bitcoin products still dominated capital absorption. Last week, Bitcoin funds attracted $557 million in inflows, bringing its year-to-date total inflow to $7.2 billion, representing the absolute majority of market capital inflows.
Overall, digital asset investment products have achieved net capital inflows for five consecutive weeks. This brings the cumulative inflow to $7.5 billion year-to-date, surpassing the $7.2 billion peak set in February this year—a period marked by sustained market volatility due to tariff policies issued by former US President Trump.
According to cryptocurrency data provider Coinglass, since listing in 2024, US spot Ethereum ETFs have consistently underperformed Bitcoin ETFs, with the former attracting $2.5 billion and the latter $42 billion. Analysts note that this gap is partially due to Ethereum ETF investors being unable to obtain staking rewards.
Through the staking mechanism, users can assist in processing transactions and earn rewards by pledging assets to the network. This process has become a core feature since Ethereum transitioned to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism in 2022.
CF Benchmarks CEO Sui Chung stated that the Ethereum Pectra upgrade will reduce the difficulty for institutional investors to integrate staking rewards into products by enhancing the certainty of staking operations. The company provides cryptocurrency pricing data for CME Group. "This is not just a technical upgrade," he explained to Decrypt, "to launch an ETH ETF with staking functionality, fund managers need to build infrastructure similar to traditional finance, including clear redemption schedules, reliable liquidity, and flexible asset control."
