The crypto market witnessed a stunning reversal! The U.S. spot Ethereum ETF just garnered 3.87 billion dollars in August, only to face the most severe capital outflow since its inception—last week saw four consecutive days of a massive outflow of 788 million dollars, equivalent to nearly 200 million dollars "burned" each day!
In this capital flight, none of the giants escaped: Grayscale's ETHE saw a maximum outflow of 309.9 million in a single day, Fidelity's FETH evaporated 216.7 million in one day, and even asset management giant BlackRock's ETHA experienced a "double-edged sword"—the day before it had just attracted 148.8 million, only to be smashed with an outflow of 309.9 million the next day. September 5 set a record for a single-day outflow of 446.8 million, marking the most severe "cutting losses" in a month!
Interestingly, the adjacent Bitcoin ETF has shown an independent trend: a net inflow of 250 million over four days, perfectly hedging against Ethereum's decline. The market is now thoroughly divided — some are frantically retreating from ETH, while others are quietly increasing their positions in BTC.
What on earth happened? Industry bigwigs are in an uproar. VALR CEO Farzam Ehsani thinks it's quite normal: "The surge in August was too fierce, institutions are just taking profits now." But he also pointed out a key issue: Ethereum ETFs cannot be staked for mining, and during this week of heightened risk aversion, they indeed cannot compete with Bitcoin.
Konstantin Anissimov from Currency.com sees it more clearly: "When macroeconomic conditions tighten, funds flock to Bitcoin, the 'digital gold.' ETH was originally a highly volatile asset, and now it's become the primary target for selling."
Data doesn't lie: Ethereum is currently priced at $4,304, down 3.3% in a week; Bitcoin, however, stands firm at $111,800, up 2.1% in a week. Strangely, while retail and institutional investors are busy fleeing, whales are frantically buying — Santiment data shows that ETH whale holdings have skyrocketed by 14% in five months!
Is this wave of operations a short-term fluctuation or a trend reversal? Anissimov is quite open-minded: "The fundamentals of Ethereum are intact, with good staking rates and DeFi activity, it's just a matter of timing, not faith."
The current crypto market is like a huge casino: some are betting on Bitcoin for hedging, some are wagering on Ethereum's rebound, and others are watching every move of the whales. What do you think will happen next?
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