The bull run of 2017 was largely fueled by retail funds discovering Bitcoin, particularly from Asia. But today, there is no doubt that the 2020-2021 bull run is due to the massive influx of institutional players into the digital asset market. Indeed, during the month of June, selling pressure from institutional profit-takers was felt. These sales impacted the entire market, which tested its supports several times. However, the trend now seems to be reversing.
5 weeks of dearth for Ethereum and digital assets
According to information reported by Coin Telegraph, Ethereum investment products saw capital outflows of about $50 million over the week of June 25. This negative crypto market sentiment reportedly resulted in net weekly outflows worth $313 million between mid-May and the end of June, representing nearly 0.8 percent of total digital assets under management.
However, by the last week of June, outflows from Bitcoin investment products began to decline. This already hinted at a return of institutional investors.
63 million for Bitcoin and Ethereum in one week
Overall, crypto investment products saw $63 million worth of inflows in the first week of July. This influx of capital ends 4 consecutive weeks of outflows and dearth.
The lion’s share of investment has been funneled into Bitcoin, which has received $39 million in the past 7 days. In addition, XRP attracted over $1.2 million in investments. To finish, Cardano and Polkadot attracted $2.1 million and $0.7 million respectively over the same period.
“For the first time in 5 weeks, digital asset investment products saw inflows totaling $63 million last week. And for the first time in 9 weeks, inflows were seen in all digital assets, implying a turnaround in investor sentiment.”
Institutional buyers played an important role during the last bull run, and they have also been a major source of volatility during the last few weeks of decline. Grayscale, the world’s largest digital asset manager has yet to unlock a significant portion of its fund’s GBTC, which is locked in due to the 6-month lock-in period applicable to these assets. Many analysts are concerned that this massive influx of bitcoins from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust will negatively impact the price of digital assets.