Crypto asset manager Grayscale's Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) has recorded a day of high outflows as nearly $359 million left the fund on March 21, but analysts expect the Grayscale-led exodus to end soon.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) net outflows on March 21 of $358.8 million followed a week of massive outflows, with $642 million on March 18 being the largest day on record, according to Farside Investors data.,
GBTC outflows have thinned since Monday. Source: Farside Investors
The latest figures bring total GBTC outflows this week to $1.8 billion and mark the fourth consecutive day of net outflows across the 10 Bitcoin ETFs.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas speculated in a March 21
“Any Gemini/Genisis outflow is likely buying BTC [with] cash so the market is holding up,” Balchunas said.
Related: Bitcoin Spot ETF experiences third straight day of net outflows, a loss of $261 million
“The takeaway: the worst is [probably] almost over. If this happens, only retail will be left and the flows will look like the flows in February,” he added.
Source: Eric Balchunas
On March 21, Grayscale reported that its Bitcoin Trust had total assets under management of $23.2 billion. In total, GBTC has lost $13.6 billion since converting to an ETF on January 11.
In line with Balchunas, an independent researcher under the pseudonym ErgoBTC stated that around $1.1 billion worth of GBTC outflows over the past few weeks appear to have come from bankrupt crypto lender Genesis.
Source: ErgoBTC
“The volume of activity generated and the timing of funds leaving GBTC and entering Genesis are quite compatible,” Ergo said. “It's just that there aren't many 2k BTC tx per day, so it's likely that GBTC outflows and Genesis inflows are related.”
Pseudonymous crypto market commentator Whale Panda offered a similar sentiment, referencing Genesis' March 19 statement saying the company would return assets to creditors "in kind" — meaning that the defunct lender would sell GBTC shares for Bitcoins.
On February 14, Genesis received approval from a United States court to begin liquidating $1.3 billion worth of GBTC shares in an effort to repay its creditors.
Nearly a month earlier, bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX sold 22 million GBTC shares, worth nearly $1 billion, liquidating its entire holdings.
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