Spot Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs Are Mixed After Trump Remarks

ETF Investment Tools

Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs started the week mixed, as macroeconomic uncertainties including the timing of U.S. central bank rate cuts overshadowed the boost to digital investments provided by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s pro-crypto statements over the weekend.

The three largest Bitcoin-based funds by assets under management, BlackRock Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), and Fidelity Wise Origin Fund (FBTC), were all down at least one percentage point in early Monday afternoon trading.

Still, the six-day Ethereum funds of the issuers in question rose yesterday and were in line with their respective underlying assets.

etf.com: IBIT quarterly flows

While Bitcoin is down about one percentage point in the last 24 hours, ether, the token of the Ethereum blockchain, is up about 1.5 percent.

Both assets jumped over the weekend after Trump told nearly 3,000 crypto enthusiasts at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville that he would create a “strategic national bitcoin reserve.” The former president also said he would fire SEC Chairman and crypto skeptic Gary Gensler, to rapturous applause.

Trump humorously said of Gensler, “I didn’t know he was so unpopular,” due to his concerns about fraud and investor protections in the cryptocurrency industry.

The Federal Reserve begins its two-day August meeting today but is not expected to cut interest rates until at least September. Some market watchers, fearful that the economy is heading into recession, have sharply criticized the Fed’s inaction this summer.

Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF Flows

Spot bitcoin ETFs began trading on Jan. 11, a day after the SEC gave the funds the green light ending a nearly decade-long streak of rejections, and have generated more than $120 million in inflows over the past three trading days, according to data from U.K. asset manager Farside Investors. That represents a cooling from early July, when the funds saw net inflows of more than $3 billion in a roughly three-week span.

The nine Ethereum funds that received much-anticipated SEC approval on July 22 lost about $341 million in outflows in four full trading days. That total was skewed by about $1.5 billion in outflows from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), a spin-off of an existing trust that charges a 2.5% fee, the highest of the group.

“While we wait for an eventual breakout, Bitcoin is likely to need ‘macro’ help, such as Fed rate cuts or lower inflation,” crypto-focused 10X Research wrote in a note on Monday.

Permalink | © Copyright 2024 etf.com. All rights reserved