Key Points
- US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded three consecutive days of net outflows led by Valkyrie’s BRRR.
- Ethereum ETFs returned to outflows, with significant outflows linked to uncertainty around a proposed U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve.
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States marked their third day of net outflows on March 5, with Valkyrie’s BRRR leading the way.
Data from SoSoValue revealed that the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs noted an outflow of $38.3 million on Wednesday. This extended their outflow streak to three days, with net redemptions of $74.19 million and $143.43 million on Monday and Tuesday respectively.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs and Outflows
The bulk of the outflows were from Valkyrie’s BRRR, which saw $60.42 million leave the fund. Invesco Galaxy’s BTCO and Bitwise’s BITB experienced more modest outflows of $9.94 million and $6.87 million, respectively.
BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest Bitcoin ETF in terms of net assets held, managed to counterbalance part of the outflows by attracting $38.93 million from investors. This brought its total net inflows to $39.66 billion since its inception. The remaining eight Bitcoin ETFs witnessed no flows on the day.
The total trading volume recorded by these investment vehicles was $3.27 billion on March 5.
Ethereum ETFs and Outflows
On the other hand, the nine Ethereum ETFs returned to outflows on March 5, with $63.32 million exiting the funds. This followed a day of $14.58 million in net inflows, ending their previous eight-day inflow streak. All of the outflows seen on Wednesday came from Grayscale’s ETHE, which has the highest fees among Ethereum ETFs. The remaining Ethereum funds observed no flows on the day.
Significantly, the substantial outflows from both Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs seem to be connected to increasing uncertainty around a proposed U.S. Crypto Strategic Reserve by former President Donald Trump.
The concept of holding Bitcoin and Ethereum as part of a national reserve aims to bolster the U.S.’s position in the crypto space. However, it has sparked debate. Many in the crypto community view it as contradictory to Bitcoin’s decentralized nature, raising concerns about potential government influence over an asset designed to be independent.
Initially, the announcement boosted the digital asset market, but this rally was short-lived as another wave of selling pressure emerged. Despite this, Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have managed to recover some ground, with Bitcoin climbing back near $92,500 and the total market cap remaining above $3.1 trillion.
Analysts anticipate more price swings in the near term, particularly amid ongoing geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainties. Historical data from Bitcoin’s volatility index suggests that March could see increased turbulence before potential stabilization in April, which might ease some selling pressure.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up 6.3% over the past day, trading at $92,710, while Ethereum was trading 5.9% higher at $2,299 per coin.
