There is news that the demand for ether (ETH), which is the native crypto asset of Ethereum, is gradually gaining momentum in the world of institutional investment. Even though Bitcoin is still considered as the top crypto by market capitalization, many of the investment firms which previously focused on Bitcoin have directed their attention to providing client support for ETH.
According to the reports, the surge in demand was reflected in the second-quarter earnings of Coinbase. The brokerage and exchange firm reported that the trading volumes for ETH have been significantly more than the trading volumes of Bitcoin in the same period. There is also news that the bitcoin-focused financial services company, New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG), has also been offering ETH services to its clients. It has been found that a large number of hedge funds have been approaching NYDIF for services related to ETH.
Besides NYDIG, the crypto unit of the asset management firm Fidelity, which is called Fidelity Digital Assets, is also being pushed by institutional investors to provide services related to ETH. Many of the hedge fund clients of this firm want ETH execution and custody services. Although the company was looking to support ether since 2019, it had to abandon the plan to prioritize a lot of early tech debt. According to well-placed sources, Fidelity Digital Assets is expected to start the support services for ETH by the end of 2021. However, Fidelity had informed that the date could be pushed to the fall of 2022.
