Digital asset exchange-traded products and funds saw $600 million in outflows last week, marking the most significant outflows since March 22, a June 17 report revealed.
According to the latest CoinShares “Weekly Asset Fund Flows” report, the outflows were primarily from Bitcoin (BTC) investment vehicles, which experienced $621 million in weekly outflows. Conversely, short Bitcoin funds saw $1.8 million in weekly inflows.
The report pointed to a more hawkish-than-expected outlook from the Federal Reserve, which means maintaining high interest rates, as the likely culprit behind the capital flight from fixed-supply assets like Bitcoin.
Altcoins chug along
Altcoins generally performed well last week, with $13.2 million in inflows into Ether (ETH) investment vehicles, $2 million into LIDO investment products, and $1.1 million into XRP (XRP) investment products.
Additionally, BNB (BNB), Litecoin (LTC), Cardano (ADA) and Chainlink (LINK) investment products also saw small weekly inflows.
However, the inflows into altcoins did little to stem the tide of outflows and sell-offs that have resulted in total digital assets under management declining from $100 billion to $94 billion during the week.
Related: ‘Vast majority’ of ETF flows could be driven by arbitrage — Raoul Pal
Institutional adoption lagging
Despite the initial interest surrounding the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States, many experts believe institutional adoption of digital assets is still in its infancy.
Marc Degen, co-founder of blockchain firm Trust Square, recently shared his belief that corporate adoption of Bitcoin was still in the “amateur league” phase.
The co-founder illustrated his point by using Bitcoin ETF inflows. Degen explained that Bitcoin ETFs have amassed between $60 billion and $70 billion to date, with total assets under management globally hitting $100 billion earlier in June.
Degen put this figure into greater perspective by comparing total digital asset fund inflows to capital flows into JPMorgan. In 2023, the banking giant saw $489 billion in net new client inflows.
This one financial institution experienced more capital inflows within a year than the entire Bitcoin investment fund ecosystem has through its numerous exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded products and asset trust offerings.
Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson recently voiced the same sentiment and argued that institutional adoption is still in the early phase, with robust institutional interest and capital deployment to arrive in a second investment wave.