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Global Bitcoin ETP holdings over 900,000 BTC as Grayscale outflows 'subside’

source-logo  cryptoslate.com 29 January 2024 14:10, UTC

Crypto investment products saw their second consecutive week of outflow this year, with $500 million leaving the funds, according to CoinShares’ latest weekly report.

Bitcoin dominate

Bitcoin investment products experienced significant outflows last week, with a total withdrawal of $479 million.

The top cryptocurrency has faced significant headwinds since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the country. Its value has declined by more than 12% to around $42,500 as of press time.

This downturn has spurred bearish investors to turn to short BTC products, resulting in nearly $11 million in inflows last week.

Conversely, prominent alternative digital assets like Ethereum, Polkadot, and Chainlink also saw outflows, with $39 million, $700,000, and $600,000, respectively. However, Solana defied this trend by recording a modest inflow of $3 million.

Across regions, U.S.-based funds dominated the scene, experiencing net outflows of $409 million. Switzerland and Germany followed with outflows of $60 million and $32 million, respectively. Brazil emerged as the exception, with the most significant net inflows of $10.3 million.

“Recent price declines prompted by the substantial outflows from the incumbent ETF issuer (Grayscale) in the U.S. totaling $5 billion, have likely prompted further outflows from other regions,” CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill explained.

Grayscale outflows ‘subside’

Grayscale’s GBTC sustained significant outflows, witnessing a withdrawal of $2.2 billion last week. Notably, this follows a substantial outflow of $2.8 billion two weeks ago, culminating in a total flow of $5 billion since the SEC approval of spot ETFs.

However, recent data indicates a diminishing trend in the outflows, with Butterfill observing a gradual reduction in daily total outflows throughout the past week.

“The outflows in Grayscale aren’t pretty but it looks like they are beginning to subside,” Butterfill said.

In contrast, the newborn nine spot BTC ETFs, including BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC, experienced robust inflows amounting to $1.8 billion. Since their launch, these ETFs have collectively attracted approximately $5.94 billion in inflows, resulting in a net inflow of $807 million when factoring in GBTC outflows.

Globally, crypto Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) currently hold 900,000 BTC, valued at an estimated $36.2 billion, per ByteTree data. Notably, GBTC constitutes over 50% of this total, boasting a balance of 502,000 BTC, equivalent to an estimated $21.1 billion.

Meanwhile, IBIT and FBTC’s BTC holdings have flipped ProShares’ futures BTC ETF (BITO) despite trading for fewer days.

cryptoslate.com