Bitcoin is taking the lead in the crypto market, pulling in a whopping $19 billion year-to-date (YTD).
Last week, digital asset investment products saw $245 million in inflows, but the real story is Bitcoin’s massive $519 million influx for the week. Its total for July alone stands at $3.6 billion, according to CoinShares.
The surge in trading volumes, hitting $14.8 billion, is the highest since May, largely thanks to the recent launch of Ethereum ETFs. This activity pushed the total assets under management (AuM) in digital assets to a new high of $99.1 billion.
The Ethereum ETF controversy
The recent introduction of U.S. spot-based Ethereum ETFs no doubt stirred up the market, pulling in $2.2 billion in inflows, the largest since December 2020. However, it’s not without controversy.
Grayscale seeded its new Mini Trust ETF with about $1 billion from its existing closed-end trust. This might explain why there has been a steady outflow from Grayscale’s products in recent years.
Just last week, Grayscale’s incumbent ETF saw outflows of $1.5 billion, resulting in a net outflow of $285 million. Though a similar thing happened with Bitcoin ETF outflows during the January launches.
Trump’s speech did nothing for the market
Meanwhile, at the Nashville Bitcoin conference, Donald Trump made several crypto promises if elected again. He pledged that the government would retain all Bitcoin seized from assets, and Gary Gensler would be removed from his position on day one.
Trump also promised to reduce energy costs to encourage domestic mining and to uphold the right to self-custody of cryptocurrencies.
He said he was against the creation of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and vowed to introduce a framework for stablecoins.
Trump’s plan includes terminating Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and commuting Ross Ulbricht’s sentence, wanting to make America the global crypto capital.
Despite the promises, the market didn’t react as dramatically as some traders had expected. Bitcoin stayed within the $67,000-$70,000 range, and volatility dropped sharply. According to QCP Capital:
“The market may need a more significant catalyst for a major breakout, possibly closer to the U.S. elections when promises and policies are more clearly defined.”
With Bitcoin struggling to break through its all-time high (ATH), QCP speculates that it will continue to trade within that specific range. The reference price for Bitcoin was around $69,500 at the time of this report.
