Bitcoin reclaimed $109,000 Monday morning after dipping to $107,500 over the weekend, while Ethereum traded lower, down 1.5% at $4,406. Institutional flows help explain the divergence: a CoinShares report shows digital asset investment products drew substantial capital in August, with Ethereum institutional inflows taking the lion’s share.
Over the week, the crypto market attracted $2.48 billion in inflows, according to CoinShares. Ethereum accounted for $1.42 billion—roughly 57.26% of the weekly total—while Bitcoin received about $748 million. The monthly picture magnifies the gap: Ethereum logged $3.96 billion of inflows for the month, compared with a $301 million outflow from Bitcoin.
CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill noted the industry saw $4.37 billion of inflows across August, but flows turned negative on Friday after Core PCE data weakened expectations for an early Federal Reserve rate cut. That macro surprise drove short-term selling pressure across markets.
Despite stronger inflows, Ethereum has slid more than Bitcoin over the past week—about 4.3% versus Bitcoin’s 2% decline—leaving market composition largely unchanged. Bitcoin dominance has traded sideways near 58%, as some altcoins including Filecoin, Polygon and Mantle posted weekly gains. Predictors at Myriad Markets now see roughly an even chance that Bitcoin dominance could move to 63% or fall to 53% in the near term.
Geographically, U.S. investors dominated last week’s inflows with about $2.29 billion. Other regions also showed interest—Switzerland pulled in $109.4 million, Germany $69.9 million and Canada $41.1 million.
Notably, Friday’s price moves triggered over $500 million in liquidations as Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP each fell several percent. CoinShares characterizes the late-week outflows as more likely profit-taking than a structural sell signal.
Takeaway: institutional appetite for Ethereum-based investment products remains strong, but inflows don’t guarantee immediate price gains. Market participants should expect continued volatility linked to macro data and liquidity shifts; positions should be sized with that risk in mind.
Source: Decrypt. Read the original coverage for full details.