Bitcoin slumps, ether flat as market digests ETH ETF launch

Bitcoin’s down Tuesday, while ETH-correlated assets like ENS and ARB see growth

article-image

CryptoFX/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Ethereum ETFs are all the rage today in crypto markets, having already posted nearly hundreds of millions in flows within hours of their launch.

By the end of the US trading day, the new funds had hit $1 billion in trading volume, per Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan.

Loading Tweet..

Though, as Blockworks’ Ben Strack noted in the On the Margin newsletter earlier Tuesday, the volumes don’t show the net flows for the funds just yet.

Crypto markets seem to be digesting the news, with the total market cap dipping 2.2% to $2.5 trillion in the past day.

Read more: 9 US spot ether ETFs go live after landmark approval 

Per Coinbase, BTC’s down 3.7% over the past day at time of publication. ETH, on the other hand, is down slightly in the same timeframe.

This could be attributed to negative perception around yesterday’s BTC asset movements from the now-defunct Mt. Gox exchange, as markets watch anxiously for a potential sell-off. Based on Arkham Intelligence data, the exchange was seen moving 1,980 BTC ($132 million) to the Bitstamp exchange. Kraken has also received 48,641 BTC from the Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee, to be distributed in one to two weeks.

Meanwhile, the aggregate stablecoin market cap is also breaking out of a three-month long stagnancy to $156 billion, suggesting a growth in users coming onchain, based on Artemis data. Stablecoin growth is largely considered by investors as a crucial metric in assessing the health of DeFi activity, which has been laggard in recent months despite the overall market return since the start of the year. 

How about altcoin markets? The “TOTAL3” market cap, a proxy index to track the altcoin market by excluding BTC and ETH, is slightly down 2% in the last day to $626 billion, according to TradingView.

In light of the landmark launch of ETH ETFs, there are movements around “ETH Beta” tokens too — so called for the perceived correlation in price action with ETH’s price itself.

For the top 300 tokens by market cap, the largest “ETH Beta” movements belong to decentralized naming protocol Ethereum Name Service (ENS), with a 12% jump in the last 24 hours, per CoinGecko. Within the crowded layer-2 landscape, Arbitrum (ARB) has risen 3%, while Metis (METIS) is up 1.5%.

Bucking the ETH Beta theory, however, is DOGE. Ethereum’s largest memecoin saw a 7% slump in the last 24 hours, correlating with an overall drop of 7.5% in meme category tokens in the past day.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template.png

Research

The march toward an interoperable and onchain-by-default internet depends on reliable messaging and value transfer across heterogeneous domains. Crosschain protocols now process >$1.3T in combined annual transfer volume and secure tens of millions of user interactions, yet no single design dominates.

article-image

The goal, per Santiago Santos, is to make crypto a relatable piece of tech for people who may not even understand it

article-image

Stripe stablecoin unit aims to operate under a federal charter enabling regulated stablecoin issuance and custody services

by Blockworks /
article-image

Will TradFi make crypto better or create more problems than it solves?

article-image

Subtle decisions by risk curators saved Aave from significant turmoil

article-image

The new Rootstock Institutional unit aims to connect professional investors to Bitcoin-native yield and liquidity strategies anchored in BTC’s security layer

by Blockworks /
article-image

DOJ files record civil forfeiture against more than 127,000 BTC linked to scam activity

by Blockworks /