$528 million was pulled out of digital asset investment products last week, the first decline in four weeks.
According to a recent analysis from CoinShares, the flight is thought to be a reaction to growing worries about a possible US recession, which are exacerbated by geopolitical unpredictabilities and the ensuing mass liquidations across a variety of asset classes.
According to the research, exchange-traded products (ETPs) had trading volumes of $14.8 billion, which translates into a less than typical 25% market share.
$10B Removed from ETPs Following Friday’s Market Closing
The digital asset market suffered a correction following Friday’s market closure, which led to a significant $10 billion drop in the total amount of ETP Assets under Management (AuM).
With $531 million in outflows, the US accounted for the majority of the outflows geographically.
Additionally, there were outflows of $12 million and $27 million from Germany and Hong Kong, respectively.$400 million in large withdrawals from Bitcoin occurred, a sharp turnaround after five weeks of inflows.
Simultaneously, for the first time since June, short-bitcoin instruments saw measurable inflows of $1.8 million.
Likewise, since the US ETF debut, Ethereum has had withdrawals of $146 million, making a net outflow of $430 million.
Remarkably, losses of $603 million from the long-standing Grayscale trust offset recent favorable inflows of $430 million from recently introduced US ETFs.
European ETPs also showed some minor outflows.
Additionally, blockchain stocks continued to see withdrawals; last week, an extra US$18 million left the market, continuing the larger pattern of withdrawals from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with a tech focus.
15% Drop in Bitcoin Last Week
At around $58,150 at the end of the week, Bitcoin had dropped 14.8% from the week before.
Bitcoin saw a brief decline below $50,000 due to market volatility, followed by a partial rebound to approximately $52,000.
As for ETFs, BTC Spot ETFs saw slight withdrawals of about $80 million during the week, with the largest outflows occurring on Friday during the sell-off.
The reversal runs counter to the bullish momentum that occurred in July, when BTC ETFs had significant net inflows, according to a recent note from Matteo Greco, Research Analyst at Fineqia International.
The total net inflow since the start of BTC Spot ETFs is still close to its all-time high, at $17.5 billion, despite this setback.
Significant withdrawals from the Grayscale Ethereum ETF (ETHE) offset net inflows in the recently created Ethereum Spot ETFs, leaving a net outflow of almost $500 million.
“Though current market sentiment is more cautious, resulting in slower inflows and higher outflows, this mirrors the pattern seen after the launch of the BTC Spot ETFs,” Greco said.
He went on to say that a number of macroeconomic issues might be blamed for the current downward market trajectory.
Concerns about the yen’s declining purchasing power relative to the US dollar led the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to hike interest rates for the first time in 17 years. This move caused anxiety in riskier asset markets and led to a large-scale sell-off.
Furthermore, rising tensions in the Middle East—especially between Israel and its neighbors—have contributed to the general market anxiety. Worries about further escalation have prompted concerned nations to take preventative steps.