Institutional investors accelerated exchange withdrawals following a Binance hack; BTC spot ETFs saw modest inflows while ETH ETFs faced continued outflows, suggesting cooling risk appetite in ETH.
Macro & Markets ·
Following a Binance hack, institutional investors have accelerated their pace of removing capital from centralized exchanges beyond just the affected platform. Bitcoin spot ETFs registered their fourth consecutive day of inflows on October 29, adding $17.2M, while ether-focused ETFs saw net redemptions of $105.5M on the same day.
The divergence between these two asset classes signals a shift in institutional positioning. Ethereum ETFs have faced persistent outflows, suggesting appetite for ether-denominated exposure was already declining before the exchange security incident. Bitcoin's modest but consistent inflows stand in contrast to ethereum's sustained redemptions over the same period.
This pattern implies institutions may be rotating away from ether or reducing leverage in that corner of the market, independent of the immediate exchange risk that prompted broader fund withdrawals. Whether the divergence narrows as near-term volatility settles, or widens into a longer-term relative underperformance, remains unclear.