US-traded Bitcoin exchange-traded funds are headed for their worst month in terms of outflows since their launch two years ago, Bloomberg reports.
In June, investors withdrew more than $4.1 billion from 13 funds—the largest net outflow since trading began in January 2024, according to Bloomberg data. IBIT alone, BlackRock Inc.'s fund with the largest assets under management, accounted for $3 billion of these withdrawals.
The outflow comes as Bitcoin itself is heading for its worst monthly performance since June 2022, when a string of crypto company bankruptcies culminated in the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX exchange. This month, the coin has lost more than 18%, hovering just below $60,000.
"The scale and duration of these outflows suggest traditional investors remain on the defensive," Glassnode analysts wrote in a recent note.
While previous Bitcoin corrections attracted ETF purchases, this time investors are opting to reduce their positions, they added.
Besides spot funds, Michael Saylor's Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which has been buying Bitcoin, has also come under pressure. The latest Bitcoin selloff began after Strategy sold $2.5 million of its roughly $50 billion holdings. The sale was small but symbolically significant for the market.
"Additional pressure was created by the 24.67% decline in MicroStrategy STRC preferred shares last week to $74.57," said Tony Sycamore, an analyst at IG Australia. "The sell-off was triggered by growing concerns that the company may need to sell some of its Bitcoin holdings to pay off upcoming convertible bonds and dividends."