U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continued their tentative recovery after attracting $371 million in net inflows last Friday, adding to signs that institutional demand could also be stabilizing after weeks of sustained selling.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs (BTC) attracted one other $145 million in inflows on Monday as BTC hovered around $70,000, in keeping with data from SoSoValue and CoinGecko.
Inflows haven’t yet offset last week's outflows of $318 million and redemptions of $1.9 billion 12 months to this point, however the slowing of losses could signal a possible trend reversal in crypto investment products, in keeping with CoinShares.
“Despite strong price pressure, outflows slowed significantly to $187 million, with the slowdown in outflows signaling a possible turning point previously,” said James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, in an update on Monday.
According to Bitwise, early Bitcoin holders were unimpressed by institutional inflows
According to an executive at asset manager Bitwise, Bitcoin's growing institutional presence hasn't driven early investors out of the market, whilst the ETF saw heavy outflows throughout the recent crypto sell-off that pushed BTC back to October 2024 price levels.
Analysts at research firm Bernstein called the recent downturn the “weakest bear case” in Bitcoin’s history, noting that the industry didn’t experience major outages that typically accompany greater stress within the crypto market.
With no clear single trigger for the decline, some market observers have linked the volatility to Bitcoin's increasing institutionalization, including ETFs, and feared that greater financialization could dilute the asset's scarcity narrative.
Spot Bitcoin ETF flows since February 2, 2026. Source: SoSoValue
Still, this shift hasn't really deterred early adopters, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said in comments to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
Hougan acknowledged that a “cypherpunk, libertarian OG core” of Bitcoin supporters is perhaps uncomfortable with the growing influence of huge asset managers like BlackRock, but described that group as a “shrinking minority.”
Source: Eric Balchunas
Many early investors as a substitute take partial profits after big gains relatively than exit the market entirely, he said, adding that the majority remain invested whilst recent institutional buyers enter the market.
“They invested a number of thousand dollars and ended up making tens of millions,” Hougan said, adding:
“The overwhelming majority are still in it, they usually're being joined by recent institutional investors. I believe the story of most OG cryptocurrencies abandoning this space just doesn't sit well with the people we're talking to and the investors working with Bitwise.”
In line with a recovery in Bitcoin ETFs, spot altcoin ETFs also posted gains on Monday, with Ether (ETH) and XRP (XRP) recording inflows of $57 million and $6.3 million, respectively, in keeping with SoSoValue data.
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