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(Kitco News) – Digital asset investment products recorded a second consecutive week of inflows for the week ending October 6 as the assets under management across the various products rose $78 million amid multi-year highs in the U.S. dollar and 10-year Treasury note.
According to data provided by CoinShares, trading volumes for exchange-traded products (ETPs) rose by $1.13 billion for the week, and Bitcoin’s (BTC) volumes on trust exchanges rose 16%.
The inflows come as the global financial outlook continues to deteriorate, with countries like the U.S. seeing record-high levels of debt, while the price of oil risks climbing above $100 per barrel in the near term amid a fresh confrontation between Israel and Hamas that threatens to plunge the entire region into chaos.
Digital asset fund flows. Source: CoinShares
There is a notable difference between Europe and the Americas, with 90% of the inflows coming from Germany and Switzerland while the U.S. and Canada accounted for just $9 million worth of inflows combined, “suggesting a continued divergence in sentiment,” according to CoinShares head of research James Butterfill.
Flows by region. Source: CoinShares
Breaking it down by asset, Bitcoin was the main beneficiary with $43 million worth of inflows, “although some investors saw recent price strength as an opportunity to add to short-bitcoin positions, which saw inflows of US$1.2m over the same period,” Butterfill said.
Flows by asset. Source: CoinShares
Solana saw the second largest inflows with $23.9 million, the token’s largest week of inflows since March 2022. It continues “to assert itself as the altcoin of choice, particularly in light of the recent Ethereum product launches,” Butterfill said.
“Last week was an important test for Ethereum investor appetite following the launch of 6 futures-based ETFs in the US,” he added. “The new ETFs attracted just under US$10m in the first week, highlighting tepid appetite, particularly in comparison to the launch of futures-based Bitcoin ETFs, which saw US$1bn in the first week.”
Butterfill attributed the unenthusiastic response to “poor investor appetite for digital assets at present,” and said it was “unfair to compare to the Bitcoin futures ETF launches in October 2021, as appetite was much higher for the assets class overall” at that time.
While inflows into digital asset products have been on the rise in recent weeks, the flare-up in fighting between Hamas and Israel threatens to reverse that trend, according to Bloomberg Intelligence senior macro strategist Mike McGlone.
#Bitcoin showing risk off tilt in the aftermath of Hamas-Israel escalation. My bias is the downward sloping 100-week moving average is likely to win the battle vs. the up trending 50-week. Spiking #crudeoil is a liquidity pressure factor. @BBGIntelligence pic.twitter.com/UYDcqc03Z2
— Mike McGlone (@mikemcglone11) October 8, 2023
