After three weeks of positive net inflows, U.S. spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have ended their winning streak after gaining billions since the start of July.
Now, it appears institutional investors are diverting their attention to Spot Ethereum ETFs, which have traded over $1 billion in volumes on their first day of trading.
According to SoSoValue data , after 12 consecutive trading sessions of positive net inflows, spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a net outflow of $77.97 million on July 23, 2024.
Inflows were significantly lower than recent entries, with only BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) securing inflows for the day, bagging a humble $71.94 million, a far cry away from its gigantic $527 million pull on July 22.
The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB ) saw its second consecutive day of outflows, shedding $70.32 million, marking its single largest loss since it began trading in January. The Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) saw outflows of $52.29 million, followed by the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which shed a further $27.31 million from its fund.
Having only posted 12 days of net inflows since launching on January 11, 2024, Grayscale has bled over $18 billion from its fund and is the only fund with a negative cumulative net inflow.
U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs have finally launched, drawing a solid $106.7 million net inflows across nine funds on their first trading day.
With trading volumes exceeding $1 billion, ETH ETFs have stacked up rather well against their Bitcoin ETF counterparts, which, despite seeing net outflows, still traded $2.34 billion in volume on July 23.
It is assumed that after the Bitcoin feeding frenzy, which saw just under $3 billion of net inflows over 12 days, institutions now have their sights set on spot Ethereum ETFs.
Eager as ever to push crypto into the mainstream, there is a great deal of speculation around which crypto will be, or at least has the best chance, of becoming the next spot ETF candidate.
Ripple (XRP) and Solana (SOL) are among the top picks. However, XRP’s lengthy legal battles with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over whether or not it is a security may not end soon.
Furthermore, SOL is also in the regulator’s crosshairs despite being an ETF favorite. The SEC classed it as an unregistered security in several of its lawsuits against crypto exchanges.
So, until the SEC reverses its years-long arguments, altcoins beyond BTC and ETH may have a difficult path to walk before attaining the coveted ETF status.