In early September, U.S. spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on bitcoin and ether saw notable outflows, reflecting a cooling interest in these cryptocurrency investment vehicles. Bitcoin ETFs recorded a steep withdrawal of $287.78 million, while ether ETFs experienced a smaller yet significant outflow of $47.40 million.
On September 3, the combined outflow from the 12 bitcoin ETFs amounted to $287.78 million. Fidelity’s FBTC bore the brunt of this decline, losing $162.62 million. Grayscale’s GBTC followed closely, with $50.39 million withdrawn. Other ETFs, including Ark Invest’s ARKB and 21Shares’ offerings, also faced significant outflows, with $33.6 million and $24.96 million withdrawn, respectively.
Franklin Templeton’s EZBC saw $8.41 million leave, while Vaneck’s HODL ETF experienced a $3.28 million withdrawal. However, not all funds were impacted; BlackRock’s IBIT, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI ETF reported no changes in their holdings.
These substantial withdrawals have reduced the cumulative net inflows for bitcoin ETFs to $17.31 billion. Currently, these funds collectively hold approximately $52.69 billion in bitcoin, which represents about 4.58% of bitcoin’s overall market capitalization.
Ether ETFs also faced pressure during the same period, with $47.40 million flowing out of nine funds. Grayscale’s ETHE led the decline with $52.31 million in outflows, though this was slightly offset by Fidelity’s FETH, which gained $4.91 million.
The total outflow of $47.40 million brings the cumulative net outflows for ether ETFs to $524.65 million since July 23. Collectively, ether ETFs now hold $6.76 billion in assets, accounting for 2.28% of Ethereum’s market capitalization.
The outflows from both bitcoin and ether ETFs occur amid broader challenges for cryptocurrency ETFs, including growing competition from layer-2 (L2) scaling solutions and an economic environment that has made investors more cautious with riskier assets.
The recent Ethereum Dencun upgrade, which aimed to reduce transaction fees and improve scalability, has also contributed to shifting user activity away from the Ethereum mainnet, impacting the demand for both bitcoin and ether investments.
