Total digital asset fund outflows reached $360 million as investors reacted to U.S. central bank Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious stance on December rate cuts.
U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds bore the brunt of institutional outflows last week, accounting for $946 million worth of withdrawals, according to a new report from digital asset manager CoinShares.
iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) shed approximately $400 million last week, the most among the 11 spot BTC funds currently trading. But total net outflows for all funds tracking digital assets were a less dramatic $360 million.
“Digital asset investment products saw outflows totalling $360 million last week despite the recent U.S. interest rate cut, as investors interpreted Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on the likelihood of another cut in December as ‘not a foregone conclusion,'” CoinShares Director of Research James Butterfill said in the report. “This hawkish tone, combined with a notable absence of key U.S. economic data releases, appears to have left investors in a state of limbo.”
The BTC fund losses were offset by ETF gains in other regions. Funds from issuers in Germany and Switzerland had net inflows of more than $30 million last week. Canada and Australia issuers generated $8.5 million and $7.2 million worth of inflows.
The overall crypto fund category was buoyed by higher than usual inflows into Solana exchange-traded products. Investors poured $421 million into SOL-based ETFs last week, driven by hype for the new U.S.-based funds that started trading in late October.
Last week’s debuts included the Bitwise Solana ETF, which trades on the Nasdaq under the BSOL ticker. The fund has already reached $105 million worth of assets under management after launching a week ago. A competitor, the Rex-Osprey Solana Staking ETF, which also trades on the Nasdaq under the SSK ticker, took 12 trading days to reach $100 million worth of AUM.
The scarcity of U.S. economic data is due to the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which has lasted more than 33 days. By Wednesday this week, the shutdown will be the longest in U.S. history. Users on Myriad, a prediction market owned by Decrypt parent company Dastan, think there’s a 97% chance lawmakers won’t end the shutdown in the next two days.
Crypto markets tumbled Monday morning, forcing the liquidation of more than $1 billion worth of crypto contracts. Bitcoin and Ethereum were nearly tied, accounting for $312 million and $303 million worth of closed contracts, respectively.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading for $107,463 after having dropped 2.5% in the past day. And Ethereum was trading for $3,657.77, about 5.1% lower than it was this time Sunday, according to crypto price aggregator CoinGecko.
