Bitcoin spot ETF anticipation fuels largest crypto fund inflows for two years: CoinShares

Crypto fund inflows at asset managers such as 21Shares, CoinShares, Bitwise, Grayscale and ProShares added $346 million last week, the largest jump since the bull market of late 2021, according to CoinShares’ latest report.

Last week's addition nearly doubled the $176 million registered in the prior week, compounding a nine-week consecutive run and bringing year-to-date inflows to over $1.5 billion.

The surge was fueled by anticipation of a U.S.-based spot bitcoin ETF, CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill said, with the combination of price rises and inflows pushing total assets under management at the firms to over $45 billion — the highest in more than 18 months.

Bitcoin investment products accounted for $312 million of the total inflows last week, while short-sellers "continue to capitulate," Butterfill added, with short bitcoin funds seeing a third week of outflows totaling just under $1 million and AUM falling over 60% since a peak in April.

ETPs now account for 18% of total spot bitcoin trading volume, well above average, highlighting their growing popularity among investors seeking exposure to digital assets, Butterfill noted.

Ether and altcoin funds add to inflows

Ether investment products added $34 million last week to a run totaling over $100 million. The four-week inflow streak has almost fully corrected outflows for the year, marking a decisive turn-around in sentiment, Butterfill said.

The sentiment was not limited to ether funds either, with other altcoin-based investment products like solana, polkadot and chainlink attracting inflows of $3.5 million, $0.8 million and $0.6 million, respectively.

Regionally, Canada and Germany again led the surge, accounting for 87% of the total inflows. The U.S. market witnessed a relatively modest $30 million worth of inflows last week, which Butterfill attributed to U.S. investors now waiting for a spot bitcoin ETF launch.