Compass Investments

– The seven-day spot volume of Ether on CEX in August surpassed bitcoin’s volume for the first time in seven years.

BTC whales switched to ETH as Treasuries and ETFs indicated strong institutional interest.

An analyst noted that capital reallocation could soften prices in the fourth quarter amid expectations of a rate cut.

According to The Block, for the first time in seven years, the monthly and weekly spot trading volumes of Ether on centralized exchanges exceeded those of bitcoin.

Cumulative ETH spot turnover on the CEX exceeded bitcoin on a seven-day basis during August, breaking BTC’s multi-year dominance of global spot volumes. CEX venues recorded about $480 billion in ether trading, compared to $401 billion for BTC last month.

The shift came after a number of positive news stories about ETH, including robust purchases of digital assets by corporate treasuries and brisk trading in U.S. spot ETH ETFs. Treasury accumulations were a significant driver. Companies such as BitMine Immersion and SharpLink Gaming announced multibillion-dollar purchases of ether last month, which has contributed to a surge in the total value of public company treasuries in ETH, according to data from The Block.

At the same time, spot ETFs on Ethereum have enjoyed strong demand amid uneven but steady flows. Wall Street ether products tracking spot prices recorded net inflows of $3.95 billion in August, compared with outflows of $301 million from spot bitcoin ETFs.

The turnaround in flows and monthly trading volume comes amid ETH outperforming BTC since January and capital shifting toward Ethereum. According to The Block’s pricing page, ETH is up more than 105% over the past year, while BTC has added about 18% over the same period. At least one BTC whale recently made $4 billion on ether by exchanging long-held assets. Paul Howard, senior director at crypto exchange Wincent, believes that such large holder moves could become more frequent as institutional investors use ETH as a riskier asset. He added that the growing chances of a rate cut this month could further bolster the performance of ether as well as the broader cryptocurrency market in the fourth quarter.

It’s worth watching the bitcoin kit wallets that are switching to ETH this quarter, as that’s where I expect more price movement for the blue chips in the fourth quarter, Howard told The Block.