Bitcoin, Solana Suffer As Institutional Investors Pull $600 Million Out Of Crypto Funds

Crypto funds witnessed outflows last week after recording five weeks of consecutive inflows. According to CoinShares data, digital asset funds saw $600 million in net outflows for the week ending June 14. The outflows were concentrated in Bitcoin and Solana funds, which saw $621 million and $0.2 million exits, respectively. These outflows come amidst a corresponding drop in the price of Bitcoin throughout the week and a more hawkish-than-expected Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting held during the week. Crypto Funds Bleed Largest Since March, With Bitcoin In The Lead Crypto funds witnessed outflows of $600 million last week after an intense $2 billion inflow in the prior week, bringing a recent $4.35 billion inflow run over five weeks to an end. The outflow recorded, according to CoinShares data, was the largest since March 22, 2024, and it occurred under comparable circumstances. Notably, the outflow ending March 22 came after a period of significant inflows totaling $3 billion in the week prior. Investors had to pull out their exposure to more stable assets due to the outcome of the FOMC meeting.  The FOMC held its most recent meeting on June 11 and 12, 2024, holding interest rates at 5.25%-5.50%, leading many crypto investors to pull out. Crypto is seen as a risky, speculative asset, and so it is only natural for investors to move into safer havens considering the high interest rate.  Unsurprisingly, most of the outflows came from Bitcoin, with crypto funds of the leading crypto asset losing about $621 million. Furthermore, the majority of this Bitcoin outflow was registered in Spot Bitcoin ETFs trading in the US. According to data, Spot Bitcoin ETFs witnessed outflows every day last week, save for a $100.8 million inflow on June 12. As a result, these Bitcoin ETFs registered a total of $580 million in outflows last week. The negative Bitcoin investor sentiment was also reflected in short Bitcoin products receiving $1.8 million worth of inflows. Solana, which also had a rough week in terms of price action, recorded $0.2 million of outflows in its investment products. In addition, multi-asset investment products experienced outflows amounting to $1.1 million. Trading volume averaged around $11 billion for the week, well below the $22 billion weekly average for the year. These outflows and little trading volume saw the total assets under management (AuM) fall from over $100 billion to $94 billion over the week. On the other hand, Ethereum received $13.1 million in outflows as investor interests continued to grow in anticipation of the launch of Spot Ethereum ETFs. BNB, Litecoin, XRP, Chainlink, and Cardano also witnessed inflows of $0.3 million, $0.8 million, $1.1 million, $0.7 million, and $0.8 million, respectively. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com