Crypto markets are currently in the red, but the bloodshed started last week with investors pulling out over half a billion dollars from digital asset investment products like exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Prompted at least in part by fear of a recession in the United States, investors withdrew $528 million from funds that give exposure to digital currencies, a Monday report by asset manager CoinShares said.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs—which were approved in January and have been hugely popular—experienced the largest outflows at $400 million, CoinShares said. Prior to the selloff, investors had plugged cash into the funds for five straight weeks of gains.
CoinShares called the selloff “a reaction to fears of a recession in the U.S., geopolitical concerns, and consequent broader market liquidations across most asset classes.”
Bitcoin is now trading for $54,458 per coin as of this writing, a 6% dip over the last 24 hours and a seven-day plunge of nearly 20%, per CoinGecko. Every other top 20 digital coin and token by market cap is also in the red in what is one of the largest selloffs so far this year.
CoinShares added in its report that investors pulled $146 million out of Ethereum ETFs. Newly-approved spot Ethereum ETFs started trading in the U.S. last month.
The second biggest digital asset has been hit harder than Bitcoin and is now priced at $2,460, a 10% dip over the past 24 hours.
And crypto funds in Europe giving investors exposure to other digital currencies like Solana were also hit by cashouts, CoinShares added.
Crypto markets have been hit along with U.S. and Asian stocks as investors now think that the Federal Reserve may have moved too slow in its plan to cut interest rates. The American central bank last week hinted that it may cut rates—which stand at a 23-year high—in September.
That, combined with weak jobs data and tensions in the Middle East, has led investors to sell risk assets.
Edited by Andrew Hayward