Institutional Participation With Crypto “Muted” As BTC, ETH ETF Outflows Persist, Glassnode Says

The prolonged outflows streak for spot Bitcoin and spot Ethereum ETFs (exchange-traded funds) is an indication that institutional investors have disengaged with the crypto space, according to the analytics platform Glassnode. 

In an X post, the platform said that the 30-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) of net inflows for both the BTC and ETH products have turned and remained negative since early November.  

“This persistence suggests a phase of muted participation and partial disengagement from institutional allocators, reinforcing the broader liquidity contraction across the crypto market,” Glassnode added. 

BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Manages To Record Some Inflows Amid The Streak

US spot Bitcoin ETFs are now on a 4-day negative flows streak, according to data from Farside Investors. This is after investors pulled another $188.6 million from the products in the latest trading session. 

US Spot BTC ETF flows (Source: Farside Investors)

Amid the continued net outflows for spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US, BlackRock’s product (IBIT) has managed to record some inflows. While the fund suffered $157.3 million and $173.6 million outflows yesterday and on Dec. 19, respectively, it did see capital enter its reserves on Dec. 18, when the streak started, and on Dec. 22. 

Investors added $32.8 million to IBIT on Dec. 18, and another $6 million on Dec. 22. 

The only other net inflows recorded during the latest outflows streak came from Fidelity’s FBTC. On Dec. 19, investors injected $15.3 million into the fund. 

Ethereum ETFs Continue Their Outflows After Ending Multi-Day Streak

While spot BTC ETFs extend their negative flows streak to four days, the ETH ETFs have seen fresh outflows after managing to break a multi-day streak at the start of the week.

During yesterday’s trading session, investors withdrew $95.5 million from the products, Farside Investor data shows. 

A day before that, the funds saw net daily inflows of $84.6 million, which had brought an end to what was a rough period for the products. 

Before that capital injection, the US spot ETH ETFs had been in an outflows streak that started on Dec. 11 and ended on Dec. 19. During this period, $705.6 million left the funds, with much of these outflows coming from BlackRock’s ETHA product.

BlackRock Says Its Bitcoin ETF Was A Major Investment Theme In 2025

While Glassnode says that the ongoing outflows from spot BTC and ETH ETFs is indicative of an institutional retreat from crypto, other analysts have said that BlackRock does not seem fazed by the current market slump.

That’s after the asset management giant highlighted its spot Bitcoin ETF as one of its three-biggest investment themes in 2025, alongside Treasury bills and the largest US tech stocks. 

BlackRock lists its biggest investment themes in 2025 (Source: iShares)

Nate Geraci, the president of NovaDius Wealth Management, said on X that BlackRock picking IBIT as a major investment theme suggests the firm is not too concerned about  BTC’s more than 30% drop from its all-time high. 

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas echoed a similar sentiment. He posed the question of how well IBIT could perform in “a good year,” noting that the fund saw $25 billion in year-to-date flows even while posting a negative return for the year.