Bitcoin ETF Outflows Hit Record $2.97B as Wall Street Rallies on AI
In brief
- Bitcoin ETFs drained $2.97 billion over 10 consecutive sessions, breaking the prior eight-session record from early 2025.
- Bitcoin fell 4.6% to $73,397; Ether dropped 4.6% to $1,996 over seven days.
- Oil climbed above $93 a barrel on stalled Iran ceasefire talks, pressuring crypto.
- Asian equities and global indexes surged on Nvidia and SoftBank AI gains.
- HYPE token ETF accumulated $122 million in net assets since May 12 launch.
ETF Outflows Hit Historic Levels
Total net assets across U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs fell from $104.29 billion on May 15 to $94.17 billion by Friday. The largest single-day bitcoin ETF outflow was $733 million on May 27, the largest since January. Ether suffered even steeper losses — ether ETFs ran a 14-session outflow streak with roughly $2.6 billion drained from net assets. Ether lost 4.6% over the past seven days to $1,996.
The timing matters. Macro headwinds — not fundamental weakness in crypto itself — appear to be driving the exits. Brent crude climbed above $93 a barrel as efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz showed little progress. Higher oil prices typically weigh on risk appetite and equities, pulling capital from speculative assets like crypto.
Wall Street Gains Ground on AI
The broader market, though, found a different narrative. Asian equities advanced 1.1% to an all-time high on Monday. The MSCI All Country World Index gained 0.2%. Nvidia announced it would enter the Windows laptop market in direct competition with Intel and AMD, fueling AI enthusiasm. SoftBank Group jumped as much as 11% on its OpenAI and Arm holdings.
The divergence underscores a tension in markets right now. Crypto is under pressure from macro (oil, geopolitics, risk-off sentiment), while tech and AI stocks capture investor attention elsewhere. Bitcoin's 4.6% slide and the historic ETF outflows show that even spot products — which were supposed to bring institutional stability to crypto — can't insulate the asset from broader flows.
A Bright Spot: HYPE
One notable exception emerged. The U.S. spot HYPE ETF, which launched May 12, has logged inflows in every single trading session since, lifting cumulative net assets above $122 million by Friday. The token gained 18.7% over the past seven days to $73.17. Hyperliquid's HYPE is capturing inflows while Bitcoin and Ether bleed, a sign that retail and institutional interest is rotating into newer narratives rather than exiting crypto altogether.
