Welcome to the August edition of our Institutional Ethereum Update. Every month, we dive deep into how institutions are interacting with Ethereum, what’s happening onchain, which firms are adopting the technology, and more.
New here? Subscribe to get updates straight to your inbox.
Ethereum x Institutional Stats
Ethereum price: $1,896.91 (+1.23%)
Ethereum market cap: $228.96B (+1.23%)
Ethereum staked: $80.8B 79.3B (-1.9%)
Stablecoin market cap: $156.65B (0.77%)
Ethereum RWAs total value: $17.27B (+0.51%)
The metrics are accurate at the time of publication. The percentage change is over a 30-day period.
Institutional Top 3
Fidelity has filed with the SEC to add staking to its Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH). The asset manager would be able to stake nearly all of its ETH ($898 million at the time of filing), with 85% of the rewards going towards the ETF. The remaining 15% would be collected by Fidelity and its affiliates as fees.
Morgan Stanley launched two new exchange-traded products, MSSE and MSOL, that let regular investors gain exposure to Ethereum and Solana through a normal brokerage account. Both charge a 0.14% fee and plan to stake a portion of their crypto holdings, passing all rewards to investors.
The Ethereum Foundation has added security researcher and the co-founder of crypto security firm SEAL 911, pcaversaccio, to its board. The EF board’s other members are Aya Miyaguchi (President), Vitalik Buterin (Founder), and Patrick Storchenegger (Swiss counsel).
A Big Move We’re Watching
BlackRock tokenizes six money market funds
BlackRock has launched tokenized share classes for six of its European money market funds on Ethereum, using Kinexys by J.P. Morgan to mint the tokens.
Combined, the six funds have a total of $311 billion in assets under management, but it is unclear how much of that value will ultimately be tokenized.
The six funds each get two new tokenized versions: one that pays out income, and another that reinvests dividend payments. The official record of who owns what will be managed by a transfer agent, and Kinexys will create matching tokens on Ethereum that mirror those official records.
Additionally, BlackRock is choosing to handle the tokenization on Ethereum instead of the permissioned network it used in its earlier 2023 pilot.
Access to the tokenization service will be limited to professional and qualified investors, across 13 jurisdictions.
A Chart Worth Checking Out
Other Major Ethereum Developments
Ethereum’s staking TVL reached an all-time high of 41.7M ETH ($78.1 billion) on August 10, representing 34.5% of total supply.
BlackRock launched two new tokenized cash products: BSTBL and BRSRV.
BSTBL represents onchain shares of BlackRock’s existing money market funds, while BRSRV represents a new fund that offers dividend reinvestments.
Greyscale signed a new trust agreement with the SEC to make staking the default across nearly all of its Ethereum ETFs, representing roughly 161,000 ETH.
KB Kookmin Bank, South Korea's largest bank, said it will become the first Korean bank to use Kinexys for settling international payments.
Securitize has registered on of its subsidiaries as an investment adviser with the SEC. The license adds to Securitize’s growing list of regulatory approvals, which include broker-dealer, alternative trading system, transfer agent, and fund administration.
This is the Institutional Ethereum Update: August Edition.
Hit reply and let us know how we did! What was your favorite part of the newsletter? Our founder reads every response.
This product was built by StrataMedia.
This information is for entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial advice, nor should it be used to make investment decisions. Cryptocurrencies are high risk and you should consult a financial professional before making any financial decisions. Make sure you do your own research.
To get this newsletter delivered to your inbox, subscribe here.
