A few billion dollars were enough to reshuffle the cards of the crypto market. Between July 13 and 17, institutional investors restored momentum to assets thanks to a marked influx of capital into US spot ETFs. This return from buyers allowed bitcoin and Ether to end the week in the green, after several sessions marked by uncertainty. A dynamic which once again highlights the weight of BlackRock, which has become a key player in directing flows towards cryptos.
In brief
- Despite a catastrophic start marking $425 million in net outflows, Bitcoin ETFs orchestrated a comeback to close the week at +$75.67 million.
- Thanks to $204.1 million reinjected into its IBIT fund, the American giant alone offset the significant withdrawals suffered by Fidelity (-$181.1 million).
- Driven by a clear hegemony of the ETHA product (+$135.3 million), the Spot Ether ETFs posted the best performance of the week with +$105.44 million in inflows.
- While XRP offers a one-off surge (+$6.78 million) and Solana stagnates (+$948 thousand), the HYPE token shows a marked withdrawal of $7.26 million.
The big gap in Bitcoin ETFs
The US Spot Bitcoin ETF market has had a very turbulent week, with big changes in how institutional investors have committed their money. Here’s what happened:
- Monday, July 13: a massive disengagement with a net leak of around $425 million ($424.7 million) across all Bitcoin funds, including -$185.5 million wiped out by BlackRock’s IBIT fund alone;
- Tuesday July 14: An immediate rebound with +181 million dollars collected, including +$138.9 million for IBIT;
- Wednesday, July 15: continued buyer flow of +$108 million, supported by +$80.8 million allocated to IBIT;
- Thursday, July 16: a consolidation of entries with +79.15 million dollars ($79 million), including +$33.4 million for IBIT;
- Friday July 17: the weekly peak showing +$132.30 million in net flows, driven by +$136.5 million ($136.48 million) injected into IBIT.
The Bitcoin ETF market closed the week with a positive net balance of $75.67 million. This is due to the rise in the price of bitcoin above $65,000 after reaching $63,000. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust fund has poster a positive weekly cumulative of $204.1 million. Other issuers also contributed to this positive result. The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust saw $70 million in inflows, while Bitwise secured $18.5 million. Also, Morgan Stanley generated $7.4 million. The VanEck raised $6.1 million. ARK 21Shares raised $3.6 million.
However, other actors suffered major exits. Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund suffered $181.1 million in withdrawals over the week, including $4.18 million on Friday. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust saw $53.1 million in net outflows.
The flight of Ether
Beyond the rise of bitcoin, Spot Ether ETFs became the most followed crypto products this week. They took in a net total of $105.44 million. Much like bitcoin, Ether started the week negatively on Monday, with withdrawals of $15 million. However, a flow of significant buyers subsequently appeared.
Ether funds attracted $58 million on Tuesday and $54 million on Wednesday, two remarkable days in which no individual fund reported a single negative figure. After a break on Thursday materialized by a total withdrawal of $28.04 million, Friday confirmed investors’ appetite with $36.7 million in net inflows.
Within this market, BlackRock’s dominance has been absolute. During the session on Friday, July 17, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) fund provided $31.7 million alone, supported by $5 million provided by Fidelity’s FETH fund. Over the entire five-day period, ETHA captured $135.3 million in net inflows (supplemented by $4 million into the ETHB fund), bringing its historical net inflows to surpass the $11.3 billion threshold. In total, BlackRock will have earned $343.4 million on its Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during these five sessions.
Selectivity on altcoins
In other segments of the crypto market, investor behavior revealed a particularly strict and fragmented selectivity. ETFs dedicated to XRP remained completely inactive for most of the week before recording an inflow of $6.78 million on Thursday, July 16, the day which represents their entire weekly balance sheet. For their part, the Solana funds have followed a timid trajectory. On Monday and Tuesday, ETFs started the week neutral. They experienced a significant withdrawal of $707,000 on Wednesday. But on Thursday, they recovered $1.66 million, ending the week with a positive balance of $948,200.
On the other hand, HYPE ETFs had the worst performance in the category. They recorded a negative weekly balance of $7.26 million. Outflows of $3.9 million on Monday and $5.45 million on Friday weighed heavily on their performance. There was a slight improvement on Wednesday with inflows of $2.13 million, but this was not enough to reverse the trend.
In addition, BlackRock announced a record $15.3 trillion in assets under management during the second quarter. This performance is supported by quarterly net inflows of $192 billion across its global platform.
This concentrated distribution of institutional capital demonstrates that access to the crypto market remains dominated by issuers capable of offering first-rate regulated infrastructure. The alignment of crypto collection by giants like BlackRock highlights the growing institutionalization of the sector. Nevertheless, the observed instability of flows reminds us that institutional commitment arises from reactive short and medium term arbitrages, where strong surges in accumulation quickly alternate with strategic profit taking, requiring continued caution in the analysis of future cycles.
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