Crypto Inflows Power on for Sixth Consecutive Week

Cryptocurrency investment products and funds have seen inflows from investors for the sixth consecutive week, according to the latest CoinShares data.

Last week, digital asset investment products saw inflows amounting to $95 million. According to the weekly report from CoinShares, investors likely viewed the recent crypto regulatory restrictions imposed by China as a buying opportunity.

This puts the total value over the past six straight weeks of inflows at $320 million. Total inflows for 2021 so far have amounted to $6 billion.

Bitcoin inflows

Investments in bitcoin led the way with inflows of $50.2 million, which has been somewhat uncharacteristic of late. In the past two quarters, bitcoin bore the brunt of negative investor sentiment. Additionally, last week’s inflows were just the fourth week of inflows out of the last 17. However, inflows into bitcoin have remained robust overall totaling at $4.3 billion.

In its latest research note, Blockchain data provider Glassnode pointed to the “relatively low utilization” of the bitcoin block-space,” which could either be a bearish and bullish signal. It added that current bitcoin has only been seeing 175,000-200,000 transactions per day, “which are similar to levels seen in the 2018 bear market.”

China crypto regulation roadblocks

Meanwhile, Ethereum followed Bitcoin with inflows of $29 million last week. The increasing amount of ether staked to ETH 2.0 has relatively buoyed sentiment for Ethereum. According to CoinShare estimates, 6.6% of Ethereum is staked to Ethereum 2.0, the growth of which is essential for investor sentiment. This is because investors see it as a potential environmentally alternative to other proof-of-stake digital assets.

From the perspective of assets under management (AUM), inflows for Solana and Polkadot continued at an active pace. They totaled $3.9 million and $2.4 million, representing 4.5% and 3.2% of AUM respectively. However, AUM under the two largest digital asset managers fell last week. Grayscale and CoinShares dropped last week to $38.016 billion and $3.671 billion, respectively, under pressure from China’s recent regulatory news.