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Beware of the crypto fund bears.
For an eighth consecutive week, negative sentiment pervades among institutional investors. Large scale crypto investors pulled $88 million out of digital asset funds last week, bringing the total over the two month period to a whopping $417 million, according to a new report by Coinshares.
Digital asset investment firm CoinShares follows the investment activity of important exchange-traded products, mutual funds, and over-the-counter (OTC) trusts, in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and other altcoins and publishes its findings in a weekly report.
James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, said he believes all the selling has been triggered by monetary policy. “Currently there is no end in sight to interest rates rises” he wrote on Tuesday.
Selling pressure this week is coming primarily from North America, which accounts for 87% of total outflows. Canadian-based fund 3iQ led the way, with $76.9 million worth of selling, bringing their total on the year to $286 million. In Europe, Swiss funds saw inflows worth $9.2 million, whereas Germany registered $9.4 million in outflows.
This week marks a notably more negative sentiment compared to last week's relatively neutral stance by institutional investors.
Among digital assets, Bitcoin led the week in outflows, clocking $52 million over the past seven days. It has been heavily sold by institutional investors this year, reaching an impressive $172 million. Short interest for the largest cryptocurrency fell, with outflows reaching a meager $1.1 million on the week.
Ethereum came in second place for weekly outflows, totaling $36 million. That number, however, marks the largest single week of selling since The Merge in September last year. Total withdrawals from Ethereum-based funds for 2023 now sits at $72 million.
Altcoin-based funds have been a mixed bag with institutional investors. Litecoin (LTC), Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) tallied inflows, although all less than $1 million. Polygon (MATIC)-based funds saw the biggest sell-off on the week, at $400,000.
Interestingly, however, and in contrast to Bitcoin and Ethereum, these blue chip cryptocurrencies have seen inflows year-to-date, with Solana leading the way at $13 million. Although we can’t know for certain whether it’s led by institutional investors, the top cryptocurrencies have seen red candles for the week. Bitcoin lost 3.5% off its price in the past week, but Ethereum slid even further: It saw a 7.2% loss in the past seven days, according to Coingecko.