Ethereum's open interest surges past $10 billion

Ethereum continues to sustain its climb from under the shadow of Bitcoin, and the latest indication of that interest is reflected in Ethereum’s CME futures open interest surpassing $10 billion. 

The milestone reflects strong institutional interest and growing confidence in Ethereum as a core asset in the cryptocurrency market. The total notional open interest (OI) in ETH futures recently surpassed $10 billion for the first time on record.

ETH open interest crossed the $10 billion mark for the first time

Early this month, the number of large open interest holders crossed 100 to stop at 101. Notional OI is the dollar value of the number of active or open contracts at a given time.

The CME offers standard contracts sized at 50 ETH and 0.1 ETH for the smaller holders. Only those with at least 25 Ether contracts open at a given time qualify as large holders.

Aside from the new high in open interest, there are also other record-breaking metrics, including the number of open micro Ether contracts, which has exceeded 500,000, and Ether notional options open interest topping $1 billion. In contract terms, Ether options OI reached a year-to-date high of over 4,800 contracts.

According to Giovanni Vicioso, global head of cryptocurrency products at CME Group, “We’re certainly seeing a resurgence and renewed enthusiasm in Ether futures — especially as it relates to institutional participation. Our Ether futures Large Open Interest Holders (LOIH) hit a record of 101 during the week of August 5. This is a critical indicator for market participants as it signals a strengthening of the institutional and professional ecosystem around ether.”

Vicioso also highlighted that things like increased network activity, corporate treasury accumulation of Ether, and positive regulatory developments have further contributed to the broad-based rally around ETH and ETH-based derivatives.

Ethereum’s native token Ether has responded positively to the recent happenings. It has risen 23% this month, even hitting lifetime highs above $4,900 at one point.

The U.S.-listed spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have attracted $3.69 billion this month, with continued inflows extending a four-month streak of positive net investments. Among those ETFs, Tom Lee’s BitMine Immersion Technologies Inc. takes the lead with 1.7 million ETH in reserve, followed by Sharplink Gaming and the Ether Machine.

Ethereum has benefited from BitMine’s treasury play

While the Ethereum market continues to look promising, open interest in standard Bitcoin BTC futures, sized at 5 BTC per contract, has remained subdued at 137,300 BTC ($15.3 billion), significantly lower than the December high of 211,000 BTC.

According to cryptocurrency analyst Willy Woo, the significant shift in capital from Bitcoin to Ethereum is being fueled by BitMine Immersion Technologies Inc.‘s treasury play.

The company, under Tom Lee, has now become the largest Ethereum treasury company and the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency treasury, with a stash of 1.7 million ETH, valued at $7.88 billion at the time of this writing.

Woo cited a graph to show that the capital rotation began after BitMine began accumulating ETH in early July.

It was also from that point that BTC’s market dominance also started to shrink, falling from 64.5% to 57.5% as of this writing, according to data from CoinMarketCap. ETH’s market share has grown from 9.2% to 14.4% in the same period.

The obvious rotation has reflected in the prices, with BTC posting only a 2.9% gain while ETH has surged by a massive 82%, vindicating token holders.

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