Ethereum is testing critical support at $1,850. A confirmed breakdown could send ETH toward $1,780, while bulls target a recovery above $1,881. | Credit: CCN.com
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Key Takeaways
BlackRock clients withdrew approximately $60 million from IBIT and purchased more than $20 million of ETH early in the week.
US Bitcoin ETFs lost $265.4 million on July 31, while Ethereum funds gained $9 million.
Standard Chartered maintains its $4,000 ETH target, but Coin Bureau said technical indicators provide mixed evidence.
Ethereum’s price prospects of returning to $4,000 have come into focus after a divergence between BlackRock’s Bitcoin and Ethereum products sparked fresh speculation about institutional rotation into ETH.
Arkham Intelligence reported on July 29 that BlackRock clients had withdrawn approximately $60 million from its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) earlier in the week while purchasing more than $20 million of ETH through its iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA).
The figures prompted BSCN to claim BlackRock customers were “dumping” Bitcoin for Ethereum, while Coin Bureau separately argued that ETH was beginning to display signs of renewed strength against BTC.
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Are BlackRock Clients Dumping Bitcoin for Ethereum?
Arkham’s early-week analysis showed approximately $60 million leaving IBIT while more than $20 million of ETH entered BlackRock-linked addresses associated with ETHA.
The activity raised the possibility that some investors were reducing their Bitcoin exposure and reallocating funds to Ethereum.
However, the movements reflected client activity with BlackRock’s products rather than BlackRock making a direct decision to sell Bitcoin and purchase ETH.
The scale of the firm’s holdings also provides important context.
At the time of Arkham’s report, BlackRock-linked wallets still held approximately 736,000 BTC worth $47 billion, compared with 2.9 million ETH valued at around $5.55 billion.
Bitcoin, therefore, remained overwhelmingly dominant within BlackRock’s tracked crypto portfolio.
Latest ETF Flows Complicate Rotation Claim
The contrast became more pronounced on July 31, when US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded combined net outflows of $265.4 million, according to Farside Investors.
IBIT accounted for $122.7 million of the withdrawals.
Ethereum products moved in the opposite direction, recording a combined $9 million inflow.
However, the positive result depended entirely on BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB), which attracted $15.4 million.
Other Ethereum products collectively lost $6.4 million, while ETHA recorded no net movement.
This suggests investors may have been particularly interested in the staking income offered by ETHB rather than broadly rotating into every available Ethereum fund.
The full week also complicates the claim that BlackRock clients were abandoning Bitcoin.
IBIT recorded approximately $86.9 million in net inflows between July 27 and July 31 after a $183.4 million inflow on Thursday reversed its early-week losses.
BlackRock’s two Ethereum funds attracted a combined $57.9 million over the same period.
Across all issuers, Bitcoin funds lost approximately $61.5 million during the week, while Ethereum products gained $10 million.
The longer 10-session period from July 20 to July 31 was more favorable for Ethereum. ETH funds attracted approximately $113.8 million as Bitcoin products lost $27.6 million.
The figures provide tentative evidence that some capital is becoming more receptive to Ethereum.
However, the changing results across different timeframes mean it is too early to declare a sustained institutional rotation.
Could Ethereum Price Reach $4,000 in 2026?
Standard Chartered has maintained its forecast that Ethereum could reach $4,000 by the end of 2026.
The prediction was reiterated in May by Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, who argued that ETH’s falling price had become disconnected from improvements across the Ethereum network.
Kendrick compared the situation to Amazon during the collapse of the dot-com bubble, when its share price plunged despite the company’s underlying performance continuing to improve.
“ETH will catch up to the internal metrics, it is just a matter of time,” Kendrick said.
Standard Chartered’s thesis is partly based on Ethereum’s dominance in stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets.
Coin Bureau highlighted the Standard Chartered projection in a recent YouTube video but acknowledged that it was far from a consensus forecast.
“Conversely, Citi puts ETH at just $2,240 by the end of the year, citing US crypto legislation being slower than expected and zero expected ETF inflows,” the channel said.
Nevertheless, Coin Bureau added that “the likely answer is that ETH finishes the year significantly higher than the sub-$2,000 price we’re seeing right now.”
Standard Chartered Bets on $40,000 Ethereum by 2030
Standard Chartered’s bullish outlook extends well beyond its $4,000 target for the end of 2026.
In a recent client note, the bank predicted that Ethereum could reach $40,000 by the end of 2030, representing a more than twentyfold increase from current levels.
Kendrick argued that ETH’s recent price weakness does not reflect the continued development of the underlying network.
His thesis focuses partly on Ethereum’s growing role in stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and decentralized finance.
The forecast builds on Kendrick’s previous bullish projections.
In a 2024 interview with CCN, he said Ethereum could reach approximately $8,000 if Bitcoin climbed to his then-target of $150,000, arguing that ETH could broadly keep pace with Bitcoin.
Is Ethereum Beginning To Overtake Bitcoin Price?
Coin Bureau’s recent video also focused on the ETH/BTC ratio, which measures Ethereum’s performance directly against Bitcoin rather than against the US dollar.
The ratio fell to approximately 0.025 in early June, down more than 40% from its August 2025 peak.
However, it subsequently climbed for more than 40 days, indicating that Ethereum had begun to outperform Bitcoin during that period.
“This suggests that the rotation out of BTC and into ETH could be underway, which is a very promising sign,” Coin Bureau said.
The ETH/BTC pair was also approaching its 200-day moving average at the time the video was recorded on August 1.
“Historically, when Ethereum convincingly breaks above the 200-day moving average, it tends to perform extremely well,” the channel added.
However, several indicators remained unfavorable.
Coin Bureau said Ethereum’s relative strength index was approaching overbought territory, while its MACD indicator pointed toward a possible downward move.
Trading volume also remained relatively weak, raising questions about whether the recovery could be sustained.
“It’s not impossible, but it’s a big jump at this stage of the market cycle,” the channel said.
Ethereum nevertheless has one structural advantage over Bitcoin: it can generate staking rewards.
“BTC can’t be staked, and there is no way to earn BTC as a reward—at least not natively,” Coin Bureau said.
That distinction may help explain the demand for BlackRock’s staked Ethereum fund.
It allows investors to combine price exposure with staking income, potentially making ETH more comparable to an income-producing financial asset.
For now, Bitcoin remains considerably larger, dominates BlackRock’s crypto holdings, and continues to attract substantially more capital over the lifetime of its ETFs.
However, Ethereum’s improving ETH/BTC structure, staking yield, and recent ETF inflows suggest investors are at least beginning to reassess the balance between the two assets.
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
