Investors Have Pulled $500 Million From Crypto Funds This Summer

• Over the last nine weeks, outflows from crypto funds have totalled $455 million, according to CoinShares. 
• Bitcoin investment products comprised 85% of the outflows, with $45 million in outflows last week alone.
• Last week was the fifth consecutive week of outflows from crypto funds. 

Assets managed by crypto-focused funds have been on the decline.

Average daily fund flows, as a percentage of total assets under management, have been on a gradual downtrend since 2021, and the trend has only continued in the latter half of 2023. Illustrating that point, a Monday CoinShares report reviewed by Insider showed that crypto fund outflows over the last nine weeks reached $455 million, with bitcoin flows comprising 85% of that amount.

In the last week alone, bitcoin outflows were close to $45 million. Ethereum, meanwhile, saw outflows totalling $4.8 million in the same stretch. 

The second week of September marked the fifth consecutive week of net outflows, and the eighth week of outflows out of the last nine.

Year-to-date net inflows dropped to $51 million as of September 15, according to CoinShares data.

Investors are pulling funds from digital asset funds even amid recent legal victories for the industry that could lay the groundwork for a hotly anticipated spot ETF. Bitcoin has rallied about 2.6% over the last month, fueled by Grayscale Investment’s court victory against the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The crypto firm had sued the SEC in 2022 after the agency rejected its bid to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded fund, and in August the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled against regulators. The decision has raised hopes for other firms to get approval for a bitcoin ETF, a move that observers say would provide a fresh boost for the price of bitcoin. Investment giants BlackRock and Fidelity are among the asset managers with applications before the SEC for a spot bitcoin ETF. 

Grayscale said in a statement that the case marked “a monumental step forward for American investors, the bitcoin ecosystem, and all those who have been advocating for bitcoin exposure through the added protections of the ETF wrapper.”