Ethereum ETFs collectively broke $1 billion in trading volume on its first day of listing on major exchanges — what a couple of issuers say was a better-than-expected showing.

Why it matters: Though ether's arrival on major exchanges echoes its larger brother's debut, the competitive dynamic has shifted.

The intrigue: 👆Boutique asset managers appear to have a fighting chance to compete with the juggernauts in the ether ETF race, more so than they did with bitcoin.

Zoom in: The absence of one juggernaut — Cathie Wood's Ark Invest — shows up in Bloomberg Intelligence's leaderboards, with 21Shares' Core Ethereum ETF ranking last in trading volumes.

• Its Ark-partnered bitcoin ETF ranked fourth behind just Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity when it debuted in January.

Behind the scenes: "Today's trading is a bit more even among all the competitors," Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, tells Axios.

• The VanEck Ethereum ETF (ETHV) had a 7% market share today, whereas in bitcoin, it has less than 1%, according to Sigel.
• The ether funds drew a fraction of bitcoin's volume — roughly 20% of spot bitcoin funds on their first day, translating into net flows of over $107 million.

Bitwise Asset Management lands third in line behind BlackRock's (ETHA) and Fidelity (FETH) in trading volume.

• That's excluding the converted Grayscale Ethereum ETF (ETHE) which started out of the gate with the most assets under management.
• Also, the mini version of that ETF (ETH) was seeded with some of those assets.

Matt Hougan, Bitwise CIO, puts the firm's rank in context: "I mean, Bitwise is a small player compared to Fidelity and they were $138 million and we were $94 million."

• "I'd love to be bigger, but we feel really good about how it shook out."
• Yesterday's flows, he said, were on the upper range of his expectations.

The big picture: First-day flows, excluding Grayscale's converted Ethereum Trust's outflows of $484 million, were over $590 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg analysts.

• After accounting for Grayscale's ETF's outflows of $484 million, net flows shrink to $107 million.

Move over meme coins, there's political play all wrapped up in ETFs.

Why it matters: With Vice President Kamala Harris locking in as the Democratic party's presidential nominee, and President Biden out of the race, the upcoming election stands to be a "win" for crypto, regardless of the outcome.

Catch up quick: It helps that one of America's most high-profile businessmen, Mark Cuban, recently told Politico that feedback he was getting (though, not confirmed by the VP) was that Harris would be more "open" to things like AI and crypto.

The intrigue: "Harris is bullish for Bitcoin, and Donald Trump is bullish for Ethereum," VanEck's digital asset research head Sigel told Axios yesterday.

• Under both, bitcoin would flourish, because their policies are likely to lead to a weaker dollar, Sigel said.
• He added: "There's still a chance that a Kamala Harris administration would be too hostile to stem the brain drain that's already happened." (Read: no change on staking.)
• "Whereas a Donald Trump administration is more likely to reverse anti-proof-of-stake policies."

The bottom line: Crypto will win in the end, according to Bitwise's Hougan, with a "move in a pro-crypto direction" regardless of who takes the White House.

• Ether would benefit more from regulatory clarity, Hougan added. "What regulations do you need for Bitcoin to achieve its objectives — you need to not ban it."
• "There's more regulatory wood to chop on ether." (The co-founder of Ethereum would agree with him. 👇)

"Today's news does not represent a change to the SEC's fundamental approach and hostility towards crypto."

Harris' camp has reached out to Cuban with "multiple questions" about crypto policy, he told Decrypt.

Why it matters: The Democrats' presumptive presidential nominee appears to be freshening up on an issue that the party's ticket had, until now, been ceding to Trump.

Between the lines: While it hasn't been unanimous, several blockchain-loving venture capitalists have been tending toward the former president in the 2024 election, Brady has noted.

• Last week Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the founders of Andreessen Horowitz (aka, a16z), caused a stir with their decision to back the Republican candidate, with their frustrations over crypto policy highlighted among their reasons.

Horowitz described the Biden administration's approach to cryptocurrency as "talk to the hand," contrasting that with former presidents Clinton and Obama, both Democrats they found more open to discussion with business leaders.

The intrigue: Trump is headlining the speaker lineup at Bitcoin 2024 this week, but yesterday, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey claimed they were in talks with Harris' campaign for her to speak as well.

• This morning, he said they passed. (Axios will work to find out if Harris is looking at the issue.)
• The comments that followed Bailey's X post point to the uphill climb Harris faces to gain the trust of the industry, should she try.

The bottom line: Perhaps Harris is looking to take a more open approach, but it will take more convincing.

⛏️ Riot Platforms acquired Kentucky-based rival Block Mining in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $92.5 million. (Decrypt)

🏎️ Ferrari says it will accept crypto payments in Europe, expanding its scheme after rolling out in the U.S. last year. (Reuters)

🤑 Coinbase Asset Management is said to be creating a tokenized money market fund. (CoinDesk)

Crypto's philosopher king, Vitalik Buterin, is the subject of a new documentary that is getting distributed on-chain.

Zoom in: Minting for the trailer launched yesterday, allowing folks in crypto to fund the distribution release of "Vitalik: An Ethereum Story."

• It tracks Buterin over the last three years and Ethereum's development through his eyes.

What we're watching: The doc is scheduled to drop Sept. 18.

• Axios was told that there will be a New York screening, location: TBD.