Substantial outflows amid the pessimistic outlook for the US economy

The second week of trading for Ethereum spot ETFs again saw more withdrawals than inflows, perhaps driven by uncertainty in the US economy.

Bitcoin ETFs also ended the trading week on the wrong foot, with nearly $240 million leaving the financial vehicles.

FarSide data shows that Fidelity’s FBTC was the biggest loser on August 2 in terms of daily outflows. More than $104 million was withdrawn from it as its total AUM has declined to $9.8 billion.

Ark Invest’s ARKB followed suit with $87.7 million in outflows, while Grayscale’s GBTC came in third with $45.9 million. BITB and HODL were also in the red, with $29.4 million and $23 million, respectively.

In contrast, BlackRock’s IBIT was the only one to record inflows of just under $43 million. Its total AUM has grown to nearly $21 billion.

Overall, the week was in the red as total withdrawals from all spot BTC ETFs topped $80 million.

Ahead of the Ethereum ETF, Grayscale’s ETHE again led the pack with $61.4 million in outflows. Smaller inflows came into Fidelity’s FETH ($6M) and Franklin’s EZET ($1.1M), but none came close to the ETHE exits and could not make up the difference.

The weekly slide for ETH ETFs was even more painful, as figures from the last five trading days showed substantial withdrawals of nearly $170 million.

All this came amid Friday’s weak US jobs report, which showed worrying signs. Unemployment rose from 4.1% in June to 4.3% in July, the highest rate since October 2021.

Senator Elizabeth Warren urged Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to “cancel his summer vacation and cut rates now, not wait six weeks.” Recall that the Bank of England cut interest rates earlier this week, but the Federal Reserve continues to postpone it, with most estimates seeing September as the first cut in years.

Almost all riskier assets reacted to the weak economic data with falling prices. Wall Street turned red with daily declines of 2-4% for the biggest indices, while the more volatile crypto market fell further.

BTC fell from over $65,000 to a multi-week low of $60,500 before managing to regain some ground. Altcoins were hit even harder.

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