Ethereum Climbs 9% Following Tariff Pause Announcement
Ethereum has climbed 9% in the past 24 hours, following the Trump administration announcing plans to temporarily pause tariffs yesterday. It was also buoyed by Thursday morning’s better-than-expected U.S. inflation report—but ETF flows show that many investors are still retreating from cryptocurrency.
At the time of writing, the Ethereum price has been sitting just above $1,500, after having fallen 0.4% in the past hour.
Bitcoin’s Performance Compared to Broader Crypto Market
Bitcoin, which has gained 6.1% in the past day, has fared better than the broader crypto market, which saw its market capitalization grow 4.2% since yesterday, according to CoinGecko data. Still, gains for the Bitcoin price have lagged behind many of the most prominent altcoins.
XRP is up 11.5% in the past 24 hours, while Dogecoin and Solana are up 6.7% and 8.4%, respectively.
Outflows from Bitcoin ETFs Despite Strong Performance
But despite Bitcoin’s strong performance, $127.2 million left Bitcoin ETFs yesterday, with BlackRock’s IBIT ETF, the industry’s largest, leading the pack with $89.7 million in withdrawals, according to data from Farside Investors. Only one fund, Bitwise’s BITB ETF, had a positive flow of capital, gaining $6.7 million.
This marks the fifth consecutive day of outflows for Bitcoin ETFs. It would seem that institutional investors haven’t been swayed by the crypto market’s rebound following the U.S. tariff announcement. Capital has been flowing out of Bitcoin ETFs for seven of the past eight working days.
Ethereum funds also showed net outflows yesterday, despite the cryptocurrency rebounding even more than Bitcoin with an 8.1% rise. Yesterday, $11.2 million left Ethereum ETFs.
Investor Sentiment for Bitcoin and Ethereum
Investor sentiment for Bitcoin and Ethereum is bright. Many investors are still betting on prices going higher. The vast majority—93%—of users on market prediction platform Myriad are betting on Bitcoin cracking $78,000 by 11:59 p.m. UTC on April 10. (Disclosure: Myriad is a prediction market and engagement platform developed by Dastan, parent company of an editorially independent Decrypt.)
Signs of Optimism in the Crypto Market
Meanwhile, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index, a third-party sentiment analysis tool, is also showing signs of optimism returning. It shifted to “Fear” in the immediate aftermath of the tariff pause announcement, from “Extreme Fear” from the day before, and for most of the past month.
But the U.S. government’s tariff U-turn might not be the only thing fueling optimism for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Paul Atkins was officially confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday as the new leader of the SEC. Some believe Atkins, who was President Donald Trump’s pick, will bring a looser approach to crypto regulation than his predecessor Gary Gensler.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.