According to The Block: US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) faced significant challenges last week, logging over $300 million in outflows and reversing a three-week streak of positive inflows. Despite modest inflows recorded on Friday, these were insufficient to counterbalance the substantial outflows from earlier in the week.
Weekly Performance and Inflows
On Friday, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a slight daily inflow of $25.6 million, primarily driven by Bitwise's BITB fund, which attracted $15.3 million. Fidelity's FBTC followed with $13.6 million, while VanEck's HODL and Ark & 21Shares' ARKB each contributed $5.29 million. However, these inflows were not enough to mitigate the overall trend, leading to a decline in total net assets held by these funds from $61.21 billion on September 27 to $57.73 billion by the end of the week.
Decline in Bitcoin Price
The outflows coincided with a drop in Bitcoin's price, which fell from approximately $65,000 on September 27 to around $62,000 on October 4. This decline in value further influenced investor sentiment and contributed to the outflow trend.
Ethereum ETFs Also See Net Outflows
Similarly, US-based Ethereum ETFs experienced a modest daily inflow of $7.4 million on Friday but ended the week with a net negative outflow of $30.7 million. The inflows were led by BlackRock's ETHA fund, which logged $14.7 million, and Bitwise's ETHW, which attracted $871,000. However, these were offset by $8.2 million in outflows from Grayscale's ETHE fund, as ether's price dropped from about $2,700 on September 27 to around $2,400 on October 4.
Despite crossing $1 billion in net asset value for the first time last week, BlackRock's spot Ethereum fund fell back below that threshold, currently holding assets worth $987.6 million, according to SoSoValue data.
Bitwise's Strategic Revamp
In a bid to reduce volatility, Bitwise announced plans to revamp its three crypto futures exchange-traded funds by incorporating Treasuries. Matt Hougan, Bitwise's Chief Information Officer, stated, "The goal is to help minimize downside volatility and potentially improve risk-adjusted returns."
As the cryptocurrency market continues to navigate fluctuations in price and investor sentiment, these developments highlight the ongoing challenges faced by Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs in attracting and retaining capital.
