Bitcoin funds see $319 million in outflows as US economic data strengthens

Key Takeaways

• Digital asset investment products saw $305 million in outflows last week.
• Short Bitcoin investment products recorded $4.4 million inflows, the largest since March.

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Crypto funds experienced outflows of $305 million last week, with Bitcoin (BTC) bearing the brunt at $319 million, as reported by CoinShares.

Short Bitcoin funds saw inflows of $4.4 million, the largest since March. Ethereum (ETH) faced outflows of $5.7 million, with trading levels of funds reaching only 15% of the levels seen during the US exchange-traded funds (ETF) launch week, comparable to pre-launch volumes. Meanwhile, Solana funds attracted $7.6 million in inflows.

The outflows are attributed to stronger-than-expected US economic data, reducing the likelihood of a 50-basis point interest rate cut. The asset class is expected to become increasingly sensitive to interest rate expectations as the Federal Reserve approaches a pivot.

Regionally, the US led with $318 million in outflows, followed by Germany and Sweden with $7.3 million and $4.3 million respectively. Switzerland, Canada, and Brazil saw minor inflows of $5.5 million, $13 million, and $2.8 million.

Blockchain equities bucked the trend with $11 million inflows, notably into Bitcoin miner-specific investment products.

US-traded ETF lose $290 million

Spot crypto ETFs traded in the US lost $290 million last week, registering interesting movements. IBIT, the spot Bitcoin ETF managed by BlackRock, started the week strong with $224.1 million in inflows on Aug. 26.

Three days later, IBIT showed its second outflow since the spot Bitcoin ETFs started trading in the US, with $13.5 million in cash leaving the fund. Nonetheless, its net flows stood over $210 million.

However, IBIT’s positive net flows were insufficient to keep the outflow spree registered by other funds last week.

ARK 21 Shares’ ARKB amounted to $221 million in outflows alone, being the Bitcoin ETF with the largest negative net outflows.

Moreover, Grayscale’s GBTC added to the leaks with nearly $120 million in outflows, followed by Bitwise’s BITB and Fidelity’s FBTC fleeing flows of $56.6 million and $62.7 million, respectively.

As for the spot Ethereum ETFs traded in the US, little activity was seen last week. These funds registered $12.4 million in outflows, with Grayscale’s ETHE being responsible for all the fleeing capital.

On the other hand, BlackRock’s IBIT added $8.4 million to flows on Aug. 28, the only day the fund registered action. Notably, no flows were registered on Friday, the first day in US-traded Ethereum ETFs history that no activity was seen.

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