Pectra Upgrade and Network Leadership Changes Drove ETH Inflows

Crypto inflows hit $785 million last week, pushing year-to-date (YTD) totals to $7.5 billion. This marks a full recovery from the outflows seen between February and March.

Crypto inflows hit $785 million last week, pushing year-to-date (YTD) totals to $7.5 billion. This marks a full recovery from the outflows seen between February and March.

The latest CoinShares report indicates crypto inflows totaling $785 million recorded for the week ending May 17. While it represents a slight drop from the previous week’s $882 million, it marks the fifth week of consecutive positive flows.

These positive crypto inflows come as markets continue to shrug off Trump tariffs. Accordingly, the US topped the positive flows. It beat Germany and Hong Kong with $681 million inflows against $86.3 million and $24.2 million, respectively.

More closely, Bitcoin (BTC) recorded a slight drop relative to last week. CoinShares’ researcher, James Butterfill, ascribes the retraction to US economic indicators.

“Bitcoin attracted $557 million in inflows, a decrease from the prior week, likely due to continued hawkish signals from the US Federal Reserve. Short-bitcoin products saw a fourth consecutive week of inflows, totaling $5.8 million, reflecting investor positioning amid recent price gains,” read an excerpt in the report.

Nevertheless, Ethereum saw the highlight of last week’s crypto inflows. According to the CoinShares report, crypto inflows into Ethereum reached $205 million. This was a notable climb from the previous report’s $1.5 million.

Butterfill attributes the optimism to Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade and the subsequent ascension of Tomasz Stańczak as the new co-executive Director.

“Ethereum was the standout performer, with US$205m in inflows last week and $575 million YTD, indicating renewed investor optimism following the successful Pectra upgrade and the appointment of new co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak,” Butterfill wrote.

As it happened, Pectra Upgrade hit mainnet on May 7, marking the network’s biggest change since the 2022 Merge upgrade. On the one hand, EIP‑7251 lifts the validator cap to 2,048 ETH. Meanwhile, EIP‑7702 brings smart‑wallet functionality and a major step toward account abstraction.

In the same way, Tomasz Stanczak, recently appointed as co-Executive Director of the Ethereum Foundation (EF), has a deep history in Ethereum’s core development. His focus on statelessness to enhance Ethereum’s scalability and decentralization aims to reduce node storage needs.

However, strong statelessness was deprioritized due to complexity and focus on rollups, though Stanczak’s leadership may shift this focus.

“The Ethereum Foundation is thrilled to welcome Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz Stanczak as co-Executive Directors. This new leadership structure marks an exciting new chapter in the Foundation’s evolution as we continue to support a growing Ethereum ecosystem,” the EF said in March.

As Ethereum and other altcoins recorded positive flows, Solana bucked the trend. It posted up to $0.89 million in crypto outflows. This aligns with a recent trend of declining TVL (total value locked), plunging 64%.