Over the past seven days, a lot of cash has left large Bitcoin funds. This may explain the decline in BTC and most other digital assets over the past week.
Good news? Outflows from its largest fund, Grayscale, are now slowing, according to European digital asset manager CoinShares.
Investors have been quickly redeeming Grayscale holdings since the product was converted to an exchange-traded fund (ETF) earlier this month. This led to a significant decline in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) as the fund moved the cryptocurrency to its custodian Coinbase.
“Last week, outflows from Grayscale totaled $2.2 billion, but data shows that outflows are starting to taper off as daily totals continue to decline throughout the week,” the CoinShares report said.
It added that investors withdrew more than $500 million from major cryptocurrency fund managers such as Bitwise, Fidelity, Grayscale, ProShares and 21Shares. The main focus was BTC.
However, despite the flow of funds from these large funds, there was also significant inflow into newly minted Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. “In stark contrast, newly issued U.S. ETFs saw inflows totaling $1.8 billion last week and have seen inflows of $5.94 billion since their launch on January 11, 2024,” the report said.
The historic approval and subsequent trading of 10 BTC ETFs on Wall Street has investors flocking to the products. This rush is partly due to pent-up demand. Before final approval, U.S. regulators blocked the creation of a spot Bitcoin ETF for 10 years.
However, despite the interest in an investment vehicle that gives people exposure to the largest digital asset in a safe and regulated manner, the BTC price has not really moved.
It rose quickly on news of the approval before falling as investors pulled cash out of Grayscale. Before Grayscale converted to an ETF, investors were required to hold stocks for at least six months before selling them. The lockup policy was at the center of a recent lawsuit filed by bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX as it sought to increase its cash reserves.
According to CoinGecko, BTC is currently trading at $41,872 per coin and is up more than 2% for the week, showing some signs of recovery. It hasn’t budged in the last 30 days.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.