Crypto investment products at asset managers such as Bitwise, Grayscale and 21Shares witnessed a record trading volume of $17.5 billion last week as spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds finally began trading in the U.S., according to CoinShares’ latest report.

“These trading volumes represented almost 90% of daily trading volumes on trusted exchanges last Friday, unusually high as they typically average between 2%-10%,” CoinShares’ Head of Research James Butterfill wrote.

These investment products also saw $1.18 billion worth of inflows last week, subject to T+2 settlement, Butterfill added. T+2 settlement refers to a process where the settlement of a securities transaction occurs two business days after the trade is executed.

However, the inflows fell short of the $1.5 billion record set when the futures-based ETFs launched in October 2021.

Weekly crypto asset flows. Image: CoinShares.

Bitcoin dominated funds, US dominated regionally

Unsurprisingly, bitcoin funds dominated, registering $1.16 billion — or 98% of the total inflows — while short bitcoin investment products witnessed minor inflows of $4.1 million.

Regarding other crypto assets, Ethereum-based products saw inflows worth $25.7 million and XRP funds saw $2.2 million. Solana investment products brought in just $0.5 million of inflows.

Regionally, U.S.-based funds also expectedly dominated last week, generating $1.24 billion of inflows, while Europe registered minor outflows overall. “We suspect the outflows seen in Europe and Canada (Canada $44 million, Germany $27 million and Sweden $16 million) were basis traders looking to switch from Europe to the U.S.,” Butterfill said.

Blockchain equities also witnessed $98 million worth of inflows last week, adding to a seven-week streak now totaling $608 million.

CoinShares exercises option to acquire Valkyrie Funds following spot bitcoin ETF approval

Following the debut of the newly approved spot bitcoin ETFs on Thursday, including the Valkyrie Bitcoin BTC -2.41% Fund (BRRR), CoinShares said it had exercised the option to buy Valkyrie Funds.

"Exercising our option to acquire Valkyrie Funds aims at extending our European success in the U.S., offering unparalleled access to regulated digital asset products to American investors. This expansion is a clear statement of our appetite for acquisition to support our ambition to be a global leader in the digital asset space," CoinShares CEO Jean-Marie Mognetti said in a statement on Friday.

However, Valkyrie's spot bitcoin ETF was the third lowest performer by trading volume among the 11 spot bitcoin ETFs that debuted on Thursday. It saw just under $9 million of trading volume during the day, compared to $1 billion for BlackRock’s ETF and $2.27 billion for Grayscale's converted fund.