Bitcoin ETF: Sentiment Fueled Largest Capital Inflow Since 2021

Riding on the spot Bitcoin ETF sentiments, top asset management firms including 21Shares, CoinShares, Bitwise, Grayscale, and ProShares have seen huge crypto funds inflows in the last couple of weeks.

Bitcoin ETF Fueled Uptrend Touches $346M

The total amount of inflows into these firms was approximately $346 million and according to CoinShares, this is the largest surge that the market has seen since the bull run of 2021. This was after the market recorded an addition of $176 million the week before. So far, there have been nine weeks of consecutive bull run and this brings the Year-to-Date (YTD) institutional inflows to over $1.5 billion.

CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill strongly believes that the recent inflow is being fueled by the anticipation for spot Bitcoin ETF approval from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

“The combination of price rises and inflows have now pushed up total assets under management (AuM) to US$45.3bn, the highest in over 1 & ½ years,” he added.

Bitcoin investment products accounted for a significant percentage of the total inflows, reaching as high as $312 million. On the other hand, short-sellers continue to capitulate, seeing the 3rd week of outflows totaling $900,000, with the Asset Under Management (AUM) down by 61% since the April 2023 peak. 

Based on region, about 87% of the inflows were traced down to Canada and Germany with only a small portion from the United States. The low level of participation from investors in the U.S. with volume amounting to only $30 million is presumed to be a function of the wait for the Bitcoin ETF product.

Top Altcoins Record Related Inflows

Ethereum (ETH) and other altcoins equally saw inflows but only in small portions. Ethereum’s four-week run hit $103 million with an additional inflow of $34 million in the past week. Altcoins like Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), and Chainlink (LINK) recorded inflows which summed up to $3.5 million, $0.8 million,  and $0.6 million respectively.

Meanwhile, the wait for a positive decision from the SEC on the twelve U.S.-based Bitcoin ETFs is still on. The regulator recently had separate conversations with some of the applicants including BlackRock and Grayscale Investments and top Bloomberg analysts are not backpedaling on their forecasts of a 90% chance of securing an approval in January 2024.