On June 19, European cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares published its “Digital Asset Fund Flows Report,” revealing that cryptocurrency investment products experienced outflows totaling $5.1 million last week. The outflows contributed to the continuation of a nine-week streak of outflows, resulting in a cumulative total of $423 million.
The report noted that despite this downward trend, there was a glimmer of hope toward the end of the week, as news emerged that BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers, had submitted an application for a Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded product (ETP) in the United States. This development resulted in minor inflows; however, they were not significant enough to offset the earlier outflows observed during the week. As a consequence, the streak of outflows persisted.
Examining the regional breakdown, the U.S. and Germany experienced minor inflows of $3.7 million and $2.4 million, respectively. The U.S. maintained its lead in terms of total inflows year-to-date, accumulating $147 million, while Canada struggled with outflows amounting to $277 million. CoinShares’ report author, James Butterfill, added, “Despite improving regulatory conditions in Hong Kong, we have not seen any measurable inflows into ETPs year-to-date while total assets under management (AuM) remain low at US$39m.”
According to CoinShares, the previous week’s crash in altcoin prices served as a catalyst for investors to increase their positions. Consequently, inflows totaling $2.4 million were observed. Noteworthy cryptocurrencies such as XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (MATIC) were the focus of these inflows, receiving amounts of $1 million, $0.6 million and $0.2 million, respectively.
On the other hand, Ether (ETH) experienced the largest outflows for the week, totaling $5 million. Additionally, both Tron (TRX) and Avalanche (AVAX) saw outflows of $0.4 million each. In a similar vein, CoinShares noted, “Blockchain equities saw the largest outflows since FTX, totalling $12.3m.”
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On June 15, BlackRock applied for the first Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. If approved, the ETF would provide investors with a regulated and accessible way to gain exposure to Bitcoin. Coinbase Custody Trust Company would be the custodian for the fund’s Bitcoin holdings, while the Bank of New York Mellon would handle fiat assets. The ETF’s Bitcoin price would be updated every 15 seconds based on the CF Benchmarks index. The approval of BlackRock’s application could have significant implications for the wider acceptance and adoption of cryptocurrency investment products in the United States.