Bitcoin ETF snapshot: Week’s inflows hit highest mark since March

The $948 million of inflows from May 13 to May 17 roughly equaled the net money that left the fund category over the five prior weeks

article-image

Artwork by Crystal Le

share

Spot bitcoin ETFs saw their best inflow week in two months as a consumer price index report last week seemed to ease concerns weighing the asset down.

The US fund category collectively notched $948 million in positive net flows from May 13 to May 17, according to Farside Investors data.  

This was the highest total during a single week since the fund segment welcomed more than $2.5 billion to its coffers between March 11 and March 15.

Analysts attributed the subsequent drying up of demand in April to profit-taking and the Federal Reserve’s anticipated higher-rates-for-longer approach.  

Read more: Strong start, slowing demand: The first 4 months of US spot bitcoin ETFs        

But April’s consumer price index (CPI) print, published Wednesday, came in cooler than expected at 0.3% month-on-month, according to Ryze Labs analysts — compared to the market expectation of 0.4%.

“This has quelled rumors of a potential rate hike and paves the way for [Fed Chair Jerome] Powell to consider a rate cut in the coming months,” the analysts wrote. 

Rate expectations had been one factor seeming to weigh down bitcoin’s price in recent weeks. The cost of one BTC dropped to as low as about $57,000 on May 1 following its new all-time high of more than $73,000 reached in mid-March.  

Bitcoin’s price rose to around $67,000 on Friday and remained around that level on Monday morning. 

James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, noted the vast majority of the inflows (more than 80%) came in the week’s final three days after the CPI print. This highlights the company’s view that BTC prices “have recoupled to interest rate expectations,” he wrote in a Monday report.

The $948 million of net inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs nearly equaled the net money exiting the funds over the previous last five weeks. From April 8 to May 10, the category endured net outflows of $931 million, Farside Investors data shows.

Notably, it was the first week of net inflows — albeit just barely — for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC). 

That fund’s $17.6 billion of net outflows over the last four-plus months have weighed down the segment, which has now hit about $12.6 billion of combined positive net flows.

The inflows came during a week in which more institutional investors revealed their holdings in such funds. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires institutional investment managers to disclose their holdings quarterly in what are known as 13F filings. 

Segment observers have recently found out, via the disclosures, that Wisconsin’s Investment Board bought 2.4 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and over a million shares of GBTC. Hedge fund Millennium Management revealed owning about 20 million IBIT shares worth more than $844 million.

Read more: How are advisers using bitcoin ETFs in client portfolios? It depends.

In all, the 13Fs showed that more than 400 institutional investors hold IBIT. 

The disclosures reflect the institutional participation that bitcoin ETFs had expected to unlock, noted Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley. 

“From hedge funds and endowments, to governments and pension funds, traditional players are driving hundreds of millions of dollars in ETF inflows,” McCauley added in a statement. “As bitcoin liquidity increases, expect more institutions to participate in crypto through safe and secure infrastructure.”


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template (1).jpg

Research

As AI supercharges surveillance, privacy becomes a prerequisite and the winning stack will combine confidentiality with selective disclosure. Zcash’s Tachyon, composable standards on Ethereum/Solana, and compliance-aware pools aim to make private rails the new norm.

article-image

Bain Capital Crypto and Haun Ventures co-led the round as demand grows for Bitcoin-denominated savings and annuities

by Blockworks /
article-image

NYSE owner’s investment values the prediction market at $8–9 billion, signaling Wall Street’s entry into event-based trading

by Blockworks /
article-image

Pineapple begins deploying its $100 million Injective Digital Asset Treasury, staking INJ to earn yield and fund onchain mortgage ambitions

by Blockworks /
article-image

Staking levels in the ether funds will depend on protocol unstaking queue times and anticipated redemption activity, firm says

article-image

ETF inflows, miner strength, and tightening supply drive Bitcoin past its prior peak amid renewed demand for scarce assets

by Blockworks /
article-image

The Guidestar team, led by Alex Nezlobin, will join Uniswap Labs to enhance automated market maker design and smart order routing

by Blockworks /