U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have seen $6.4 billion in net outflows over the past 30 days, marking the largest monthly withdrawal period since the funds were launched in 2024, Mizuho pointed out Thursday morning. The selling pressure has continued this week, with investors pulling $651 million from bitcoin ETF so far, per SoSoValue. BTC.CM= YTD mountain Bitcoin performance year to date The outflows come as bitcoin itself fell to its lowest level since October 2024 on Thursday, hovering below $60,000. The flagship cryptocurrency has been squeezed from all sides this month. Institutional investors have been reducing their risk exposure amid a weaker bitcoin price, higher-rate concerns and broader market uncertainty — and bitcoin ETFs have become one of the easiest ways to do that. Additionally, AI, the SpaceX IPO and prediction markets have been bigger winners in the competition for speculative capital. And the crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act, a key upside catalyst for the broader crypto market, is increasingly at risk of being pushed to the fall as competing legislative priorities crowd the congressional agenda. Then there’s the impact from Strategy . June began with a bitcoin sell-off triggered by the bitcoin treasury firm pioneer selling a small but symbolically significant amount of its coins. While this isn’t the key driver of bitcoin price at the moment, the company’s moves aren’t completely separate from investor sentiment. On Thursday, Strategy’s STRC preferred stock dropped to $73.62, a record 26% below its $100 par level, as Strategy shares extended a multiweek sell-off that has brought the stock down around 45% in June alone. Although sentiment is weak, bitcoin’s decline — now in its eighth month from its peak about $126,000 — has been more muted than the crushing drawdowns that characterized previous crypto winters. One big reason for that is the increase in institutional participation, according to Sam Callahan, director of bitcoin strategy and research at bitcoin treasury firm OranjeBTC. “The thing about bitcoin today versus prior bear markets is it is more institutionalized,” he said. “The volatility profile is lower than it was in the past … because the investor base [is] larger, it’s more liquid. Bitcoin’s not so much a smaller retail held asset, it’s more institutionalized now.” —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
