Casey Wagner

<div id="highlights-block_626aac6b01e5b" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Bitcoin led in outflows, with investors pulling $67.3 million on average each week in April</li>
 <li>Multi-asset investment funds are faring better than their single-asset counterparts</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The month of April saw an average of $79.5 million leave crypto investment products each week, the largest so far in 2022, according to blockchain data firm CryptoCompare. Bitcoin led the decline, with investors pulling an average of $67.3 million each week.&nbsp;



Cryptocurrency exchanges reported lower trading volumes in April as well, marking the sixth straight month of declines. Average daily trading volumes fell 16.3% to $244 million in April. In total, trading volumes are down 71.0% since October 2021 and 83.8% since the all-time high in January 2021 of $1.51 trillion.&nbsp;



Multi-asset cryptocurrency investment products have fared better than their single-asset counterparts, CryptoCompare researchers found. Multi-asset products have posted inflows for the past three months, with average weekly flows hitting $4.23 million so far in April — compared with $18.9 million in average weekly inflows in February and $7.08 million in March. 



Despite an increase in outflows and trading volume decline, digital asset investment products have maintained relatively steady assets under management (AUM), CryptoCompare researchers noted.&nbsp;



“Total aggregate AUM across digital asset investment products fell marginally by 1.34% to $48.1 billion from the end of March to the 27th of April,” analysts wrote in their latest <a href="https://data.cryptocompare.com/reports/digital-asset-management-review-april-2022?mc_cid=7d9efe36ec&amp;mc_eid=bda2a2e884" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>. “AUM have remained relatively stable so far this year — with March seeing the highest month-end AUM at $48.7 billion.”&nbsp;



Bitcoin and ether experienced price declines of 16.3% and 14.4%, respectively, through April 27. Bitcoin has experienced a slight rally this week as big tech led a rebound in equities, but the largest digital currency has been unable to break $40,000. 



“If risk appetite remains strong on Wall Street, bitcoin could continue to rally — if earnings continue to impress — but shortly after Thursday’s mega-cap tech earnings, markets may enter a trading range until next week’s FOMC decision,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, said.



Sentiment also seems to have declined, with <a href="https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%203-m&amp;q=bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google Trends data</a> showing a decline in searches for bitcoin since the start of the year. The crypto <a href="https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fear and greed index</a>, a popular tool used to measure investors’ attitude, has dipped into the “extreme fear” zone in recent weeks, showing that sellers vastly outweigh buyers.



Bitcoin&#8217;s hashrate and mining difficulty have remained steady, <a href="https://mempool.space/mining" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">near all-time highs</a>, indicating the health of the Bitcoin network remains unaffected by short-term price swings.



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Crypto Investments Lost an Average of $79.5M Each Week in April

<div id="highlights-block_61ae91fc85a66" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Grayscale’s investor survey reveals a stronger interest in digital assets</li>
 <li>Most investors that own bitcoin reported that they bought it within the last year</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Retail interest in digital assets grew this year, with more than a quarter of US investors reporting bitcoin ownership in 2021, according to a survey conducted by Grayscale Investments and market research firm 8 Acre Perspective.&nbsp;



Of the 1,000 investors <a href="https://grayscale.com/learn/2021-bitcoin-investor-study/?utm_source=globe-newswire&amp;utm_medium=press&amp;utm_campaign=2021-12-06_bitcoin-investor-study-2021&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_term=bitcoin-investor-study-2021" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">surveyed</a>, 59% reported interest in bitcoin investments, up from 55% in 2020. 



Cryptocurrency adoption has increased significantly in the past year. Of those surveyed that own bitcoin, 55% said that they purchased the asset within the last 12 months.



“While it is encouraging to see attitudes towards crypto continue to evolve, it’s still early days for this industry,” Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said in a statement. “It’s incumbent on all of us to remain focused on educating the investing public, so investors — across generations and demographics — can access this once in a generation opportunity.”



Investors have also changed the way they invest in bitcoin over the past year, the survey found. More than 75% of investors preferred buying directly on a cryptocurrency exchange in 2020. In 2021, nearly two-thirds of investors preferred buying bitcoin through a trading app, such as eToro or Robinhood.&nbsp;



Nearly 80% of those surveyed said that they would prefer to invest in bitcoin through an exchange-traded fund. Currently, the only ETF available is a futures-based product, a spot fund has not yet been approved.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/JMe_QiqPjGPErrI-5COUlbkuq5Sas4fznZJ2J9mddzjmfYqIeVotV9EupVjTaM9BfdFJEXA7JyDvyjbfalU4gHhKdV9eXJiupLl-fk7CvxT64s5Qh32pBSDEp9qemdD_RJ85jOJN" alt=""/><figcaption>Source: Grayscale</figcaption></figure>



The survey results come after <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/btc-market-starts-monday-neutral-after-major-weekend-washout/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a weekend of volatility</a> for bitcoin and other digital assets. The largest digital currency shed as much as 17% on Saturday, falling to $44,000. Although some losses were pared, bitcoin was $50,459 at time of publication. 



Analysts are weighing a variety of potential causes for the crash, including increased fears of the Omicron variant and a more hawkish Federal Reserve.&nbsp;



“Confidence that the crypto selling pressure is over is far from over and that is why there are some fading the Saturday rebound,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said in a recent note. “This unexpected crypto crash does not mean the end of bitcoin or bursting of what some call the biggest bubble ever. Excessive margin trading and a complacently bullish market is the culprit that let Bitcoin end up being vulnerable to what was almost a 40% drop from the record high of just a month ago.”



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