A day after pulling a record $1 billion from U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs Tuesday, investors withdrew another $750 million on Wednesday.
Over the past week, nearly $3 billion has flowed out of spot bitcoin ETFs, marking the worst period of outflows since their launch a year ago, according to data from Bloomberg. This selling pressure has coincided with a sharp decline in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which was up 1% year to date as recently as Feb. 20, is now down more than 13%. The iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has fared even worse, plunging from a 20% loss on Feb. 20 to a 33% decline today.
Risk-off sentiment across financial markets—driven by concerns over trade wars and economic growth—has contributed to the downturn in crypto ETFs. But cryptocurrencies have been hit particularly hard following a massive $1.5 billion hack of Bybit last week. The theft, one of the largest in crypto history, involved hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in Bybit’s security systems, leading to significant losses for the crypto exchange.
Despite recent outflows, spot U.S. crypto ETFs still have a net inflow of $2.1 billion for the year. IBIT (+$2.9 billion) and ETHA (+$806 million) have been the biggest winners, while the GBTC (-$758 million) and ETHE (-$404 million) have seen the largest outflows.
If spot bitcoin ETF flows turn negative for the year, it will be a major development.
In contrast to crypto ETFs, investors have been pouring money into gold ETFs. Over the past week, gold funds have seen around $4 billion in inflows and more than $5 billion since the start of the year.
The price of gold is significantly outperforming bitcoin in 2025. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) is up 8.6% year-to-date, while bitcoin has slumped.
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