Bitwise becomes 1st US ETF to post Ethereum addresses

Bitwise disclosed several ENS addresses used to store Ethereum tokens for its spot ETH ETF, which launched on Tuesday.

Bitwise became the first U.S. spot Ethereum (ETH) ETF issuer to publish wallets after committing to transparency for its ETHW fund. The wealth manager made a similar move in January when it disclosed public Bitcoin (BTC) addresses for assets underpinning the BITB spot BTC ETF. 

Five addresses assigned Ethereum Name Service (ENS) tags were posted shortly before ETHW and eight other funds started trading. ENS sub-names simplify Ethereum addresses, which are typically long and difficult to read. Instead of an alpha-numeric sequence, the ENS protocol designates a shorter label, such as “abc.eth,” to an address.

Bitwise pledged to add more addresses as the fund grows so users and investors can track its Ether-related activity on-chain. 

“This is the sort of transparency only crypto makes possible. It allows anyone to verify ETHW’s holdings and flows directly on the blockchain, and it lets people easily build public dashboards or write smart contracts that utilize the available ENS records”, an excerpt from the announcement read. 

The update received applause from the ENS protocol. “ETHW is now the most crypto-native ETF,” an ENS tweet on X said. 

Bitwise, competitors hit $361m trading volume in 90 minutes

Nine spot Ethereum ETFs from eight issuers captured over $361 million in trading volume within the first hour and a half of launching. Ether funds boasted over 55% of Bitcoin ETF volume in the same opening hour. 

VanEck’s head of digital asset research, Matthew Sigel, noted that Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE) accounted for an estimated 24% of Tuesday’s spot ETH ETF activity so far. Most of the trading seemed to stem from Grayscale selling, but ETF data typically aggregates the following day, meaning a clearer picture should emerge by Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s market price was unfazed by the news and Wall Street’s trading. Many speculated how Ether might react, either with a price increase or a decline. 

“Predicting whether ETH will skyrocket is challenging. The reality is no one knows, so we can only look at trends and previous price action,” P2P’s CMO Rick Bagshaw told crypto.news via email.