U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their first positive net inflow week since May, with Bitcoin ETFs taking in roughly $197 million and Ethereum ETFs adding about $84 million, for a combined $282 million. The reversal ends a brutal stretch of outflows that had seen Bitcoin ETFs bleed $527 million the prior week alone.
Institutional Buying Returns After Two-Month Bleed
Bitcoin ETFs opened the week with a strong $265.7 million inflow on Monday, followed by $21.5 million on Tuesday, before midweek escalation in the Iran conflict triggered outflows of $84.9 million on Wednesday and $95.3 million on Thursday. The week closed with a $90.4 million inflow on Friday. BlackRock’s IBIT led the buying on both green days, adding $209.4 million on Monday and $86.8 million on Friday. IBIT had been the single largest contributor to June’s record outflows, making its return to the bid side a meaningful signal for institutional sentiment.
Ethereum ETFs pulled in about $84 million for the week, including $18 million on Friday, after a small net outflow the previous week. While the combined $282 million is not a massive sum, it provides welcome relief after a prolonged period of redemptions.
Bitcoin Price and Macro Outlook
Bitcoin rebounded to $64,000 on the back of the inflows before retracing to just under $63,000 overnight. Major cryptocurrencies were down 1-3% in the overnight selloff, with BTC at $63,000, ETH at $1,780, and SOL at $76. The upcoming Tuesday CPI print is the last major data point before the July 28-29 FOMC meeting. If inflation cools, the flows likely keep building, opening a path toward the June peak near $67,250. If inflation runs hot, the bounce could be tested quickly.
Other Market Developments
NEAR activated its v2.13.0 mainnet upgrade, adding post-quantum signature support, automatic shard scaling, and a redesigned gas payment system. Zcash confirmed July 28 for its Ironwood upgrade, which fixes the Orchard shielded-pool counterfeiting issue that crashed ZEC last month. Robinhood Chain saw over $2 billion in DEX volume over the weekend with over 800,000 active addresses. Meanwhile, Meta’s chief data officer called agentic commerce the potential “next tier of business,” noting stablecoins are central to a future without physical wallets, with over a million weekly active businesses already using Meta’s AI agents.