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Investors exited US-listed spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs) positions on Aug. 2, leading to $237.45 million and $54.27 million outflows respectively amid a weekend tumble in the cryptocurrencies’ prices.
Net inflows into Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust were countered by outflows from five other BTC funds on the same day. The outflows were driven primarily by a $104.10 million withdrawal from the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), according to SoSoValue data.
Meanwhile, negative capital flows into Ether ETFs were fueled by exits from Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE), amounting to $61.43 million, per SoSoValue data. Only Fidelity’s FETH and Franklin Templeton’s EZET recorded inflows totaling approximately $7.16 million.
Read more: Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF net outflows top $2B
An accelerated broad weekend sell-off followed net outflows seen from both Bitcoin and Ether ETF markets, which sent the top two cryptocurrencies by market capitalization plunging to levels not seen in months.
Bitcoin (BTC) is lower by 17% over the past 24 hours and nearly 30% week-over-week basis to exchange hands at between $50,000 and $51,000 per CoinGecko. Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) is down 24% over the last day and 34% over the past week, currently trading at $2,200.
The sudden downturn in the price of cryptocurrencies followed the Bank of Japan hiking its benchmark interest rate last week. That led to a sharp sell-off in the Japanese stock market, Nikkei 225, which is down 12.40% at the time of writing, per Google Finance.
In the West, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index slid 3.4% last week, marking its worst three-week performance since September 2022 and entering a correction — a decline of 10% or more from its recent peak. This slump was fueled by a combination of factors, including disappointing earnings reports from major tech companies like Amazon and Nvidia, a weaker-than-expected jobs report, rising unemployment, and a slowdown in the manufacturing sector.
Adding to the market’s woes, the US Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady and did not signal a rate cut in September, contrary to many experts’ predictions. Lower interest rates typically boost the performance of riskier assets like tech stocks, so the Fed’s decision further dampened investor sentiment.