Spooked investors yanked $85m Bitcoin ETFs even before Iran attack — here’s why skittishness is temporary

Investors pulled $85 million from US Bitcoin ETFs last week.
That’s a marked difference from the previous week when over $484 million flowed into the funds.
The news comes as the halving looms and amid geopolitical tensions.

Last week was brutal for US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

The 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs saw investors pull $85 million out of their funds in the week between April 8 to 12, contributing to what Fineqia International’s Matteo Greco called short-term bearish sentiment as investors cash in from price gains over the past six months.

That’s a sharp U-turn from the previous week, when investors injected about $484 million — when adjusted for outflows — into those funds, BitMEX Research data shows.

Middle East tensions, central bank policies, the upcoming halving and profit taking after Bitcoin’s surge to a record all contributed to the gloomy sentiment, said Greco, analyst at the digital asset and fintech investment business Fineqia, in a note on Monday.

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Pessimism drove price declines in other cryptocurrencies including Ethereum, while haven assets such as gold spiked, amid escalating tension as Iran attacked Israel over the weekend.

Bitcoin plunged on the Iran attack, falling about 13% from its price on Friday afternoon. It pared losses after Hong Kong approved a spot Bitcoin ETF.

Uncertainty around the upcoming halving, combined with last week’s US inflation data that signals the Federal Reserve won’t cut interest rates, also weighed on investors.

BlackRock inflows dip

Grayscale’s flagship spot Bitcoin ETF continued to haemorrhage funds last week, with its net outflows growing 3% to $767 million between the week starting on April 1 and the week starting on April 8, BitMEX Research data shows.

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While BlackRock continued to see positive inflows over the past week, they were still 40% lower than the week before, to $487 million.

Fidelity’s inflows fell by 77% to $90 million over the same period.

Combined, all other US spot Bitcoin ETFs saw their total $36 million in net outflows between April 1 and 4 change to $27.3 million in net inflows last week.

Sebastian Sinclair is a markets correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Contact Seb at sebastian@dlnews.com.