Crypto Investment Products Attract $176 Million as Rebound Continues

Despite last week’s selloff, investors largely bought the dip in Bitcoin and Ethereum —with more than $175 million pouring back into crypto investment products.

This week, U.S. economic data will be crucial in driving either a return to volatility, or a potential rally to new all-time highs if history repeats itself — plus Donald Trump Jr. reveals his own plans for a crypto project he calls “huge.”

Ethereum Surprises With Massive Inflows

Between Bitcoin and Ethereum, the latter was more battered and bruised in the sell off last week. That’s also why it was somewhat surprising to see Ethereum attract an impressive $155 million in inflows via investment products, according to the latest data from CoinShares. It accounted for the bulk (88%) of the $176 million weekly total if inflows.

To be fair, it’s still early innings for Ethereum ETFs so maybe institutional investors were just waiting for a solid entry point. After a 25% selloff last Monday, it may have been too ripe to not jump in.

Considering we are now onto the third week of trading for Ethereum ETFs, it’s perhaps worth remembering that Bitcoin notched a new all-time high about two months after their ETFs began trading. There are obviously more macroeconomic factors at play this time around relative to back in January — but should the rebound continue, Ethereum has the potential to repeat history by similarly climbing to a record over the next few weeks as outflows from Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust slow.

Bitcoin Miner Marathon Raises $250 Million

Call it extreme optimism or a bold-faced bet, but anytime you see a Bitcoin miner (which already has huge price exposure to bitcoin by virtue of spending money on energy to mine the crypto) raising money to bet more on crypto, you do raise an eyebrow.

Marathon on Monday announced it would be doing just that by raising $250 million to buy more bitcoin. The move follows a $2 billion raise from MicroStrategy to do the same.

Marathon’s bet comes at a time when the company finds itself on sound financial footing. The company only had about $346 million in total debt, which is tame compared to historical levels. There seems to be a sign of growing confidence among those most deep in the Bitcoin sauce.

Donald Trump Jr. Teases a Crypto Project

It appears the entire Trump family is going full crypto. Just a week after the former President announced plans for a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and began selling Bitcoin-themed sneakers, his eldest son hopped in as well with plans for a platform of his own.

Last week, Don Jr. shot down rumors he was working on a memecoin and revealed he was working on launching a DeFi platform to take on the big banks.

“What we want to do is take on a lot of the banking world. I think there has been a lot of inequality in that only certain people can get financing," Don Jr. said. "So this notion of decentralized finance is obviously very appealing to guys like me who have been de-banked or haven't been able to get insurance or whatnot or mortgages because they don't check certain boxes.”

Crypto Giants Defend Prediction Markets

If there is one new exploding use case for crypto this year, it’s prediction markets. Sites like Polymarket have been offering the opportunity for people to bet on anything and everything — from U.S. election outcomes, to hostage situations, to the mundane like sports outcomes.

Polymarket has seen more than $1 billion in cumulative betting volumes — and perhaps unsurprisingly has now attracted the attention of the CFTC. It has also attracted the attention of Congress. Eight lawmakers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, sent a letter to the head of the CFTC asking him to ban election betting on prediction markets. They said elections are not “for-profit" enterprises.

In response, legal teams from Coinbase, Gemini, Crypto.com, and crypto VC firm Dragonfly all mobilized in Polymarket’s defense. It’s an interesting battle that almost seemed inevitable, but one that is increasingly important for exchanges looking for use cases to show people there are things they can do with their crypto.

Other Web3 Headlines:

• Crypto startups attract $2.7 billion in Q2 funding, study says

• Binance Executive Is Being Denied Access to Lawyers, Health Is Deteriorating

• Tether to Fight Celsius' $3.3 Billion 'Shakedown' Litigation

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