Fresh cash has started hitting Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) again after five weeks of outflows. A Monday report from European asset manager CoinShares shows $130 million entering the funds last week.
CoinShares tracks all crypto funds from the U.S. to Europe and Australia. Most of last week’s movements entered American funds, particularly the new spot ETFs that give traditional stock investors exposure to Bitcoin.
The report added that European investors pulled $14 million out of Ethereum-related funds due to bearish sentiment surrounding the approval of an Ethereum ETF.
A number of high-profile investment firms are hoping to get approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an Ethereum ETF, but experts think the regulator will drag its heels in giving such products the green light—if they’re approved at all.
“Low interaction by the U.S. regulators with ETF issuer applications for a spot Ethereum ETF have increased speculation that the ETF approval is not imminent,” CoinShares wrote. “This has been reflected in outflows which totalled $14 million last week.”
Perhaps the best news for investors who are long on Bitcoin is that the amount of money leaving Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) last week was the lowest it has been since its conversion to an ETF in January.
Since shifting from a closed-end fund model to an ETF, investors have aggressively redeemed shares to cash out of the product—either to look for a cheaper ETF or take home gains. As the fund sells its Bitcoin to pay customers cash, these massive outflows have put downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price.
But at the start of this month, for the first time, more investors started buying GBTC shares than redeeming them.
GBTC inflows could lead to the price of the asset going up if more investors want exposure to the biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, CoinShares said.
Bitcoin is now trading for $62,810 per coin, CoinGecko says. It touched a new all-time high in March of nearly $74,000 but has since struggled due to dying ETF hype. Just a fortnight ago, the Bitcoin ETFs had their worst day on record, with investors pulling out more than half a billion dollars.
Could investors be hungry for Bitcoin again?
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.