Institutional giants "defensive reduction"? US Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF lose nearly $1 billion in a single day

Amid rising uncertainty in the overall economic environment, the US Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs have experienced a “massive capital flight,” with net outflows approaching 1 billion USD in a single day, reflecting institutional risk-averse behavior when facing geopolitical tensions and financial market volatility. According to SoSoValue statistics, all 12 Bitcoin spot ETFs in the US saw a total net outflow of 708.7 million USD on Wednesday, the largest single-day capital outflow in nearly two months. Among them, BlackRock’s IBIT had the highest outflow, reaching 356.6 million USD; Fidelity’s FBTC followed closely with a net outflow of 287.7 million USD; additionally, four other Bitcoin ETFs also recorded capital outflows. Ethereum spot ETFs also faced pressure. On Wednesday, five funds collectively experienced net outflows of 286.9 million USD, with BlackRock’s ETHA accounting for most of it, with a single-day outflow of 250.3 million USD; another three Ethereum ETFs also showed capital outflows, while Grayscale’s Ethereum Mini Trust (ETH) saw a slight inflow of 10 million USD. BTC Markets cryptocurrency analyst Rachael Lucas pointed out:

“Wednesday’s capital withdrawal is a typical ‘defensive de-risking.’ When the overall economic environment deteriorates—whether due to rising interest rates, geopolitical conflicts, or soaring volatility—institutions tend to first adjust high beta (high volatility relative to the market) assets like cryptocurrencies.”

It is noteworthy that, alongside the large capital outflows, Bitcoin and Ethereum prices also weakened, respectively dropping to 87,000 USD and 2,872 USD, mainly due to tense US-Europe relations and sharp fluctuations in the Japanese government bond market, which intensified market risk aversion. However, signs of stabilization soon appeared. US President Donald Trump announced that an agreement had been reached with NATO regarding Greenland issues and that tariffs on EU countries would be temporarily halted in February, easing concerns over escalating trade conflicts. With risk sentiment warming, Bitcoin has rebounded to around 89,000 USD, while Ethereum remains stable around 3,000 USD. Kronos Research Chief Investment Officer Vincent Liu believes that, despite unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, cryptocurrencies have demonstrated relatively strong resilience after a cleansing of the market. Rachael Lucas further added that, from a long-term perspective, large daily capital outflows are still insufficient to shake the overall trend. She pointed out that the total assets under management of Bitcoin spot ETFs currently exceed 116 billion USD, with cumulative net inflows surpassing 56 billion USD since their launch.