Ethereum (ETH-USD) climbed 6.8% to $2,640 on Friday, its highest close since March 4, after the U.S. spot Ethereum ETF complex absorbed $1.21 billion of net inflows for the week ending May 1 — the strongest weekly figure since the cohort's July 2024 launch. BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) led with $612 million, followed by Fidelity's FETH at $238 million. Aggregate ETH ETF AUM crossed $24.1 billion at Friday's close.
The flow surge coincided with the conclusion of the final Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) creation-unit lockup expiration, which had been an overhang since the July 2024 conversion to spot ETF status. The structural drag from ETHE redemptions — which had averaged -$94 million per week through Q1 — flipped to net positive +$22 million for the week, contributing to the cleaner technical setup. The ETH/BTC cross ratio rose to 0.0320, the highest since February 18.
Layer-2 and DeFi Beneficiaries
The L2 ecosystem rallied on read-through: Arbitrum (ARB) rose 9.4%, Optimism (OP) added 7.8%, Polygon (MATIC) climbed 6.4%, and Mantle (MNT) gained 11.2%. DeFi protocols also rallied: Aave (AAVE) surged 14.6% on continued integration of its v4 cross-chain module, Lido (LDO) added 9.8% as the staked-ETH ratio rose to 28.4% of supply, and Uniswap (UNI