Bitcoin ETFs Continue to See Withdrawals Ahead of Halving Event

According to the latest updates, Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) experienced a net withdrawal of $59.3 million on April 16th, marking the third consecutive day of negative capital flows for these funds. Among these, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) managed to attract only $25.8 million, a modest amount compared to expectations.

Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC saw an outflow of $79 million, and Ark’s Bitcoin ETF also experienced withdrawals, with $12.9 million leaving the fund. These movements occurred in a context where Bitcoin prices remained below the $64,000 mark, as the cryptocurrency market struggled to gather momentum just three days before the much-anticipated halving event.

Although capital outflows from IBIT are slowing, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, predicts that this fund is likely to surpass GBTC in total assets by the end of the month. Currently, GBTC has dropped to just over $2 billion, while BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF continues to attract investment. However, Balchunas also highlighted that an “odd rally” in Bitcoin could delay this shift.

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Moreover, the market sentiment is predominantly pessimistic surrounding the halving event. Gold investment expert Peter Schiff recently commented that Bitcoin is in a stealth bear market as major cryptocurrency stocks have undergone significant declines.

Related: Bitcoin Rises to $64,000 Amid Market Optimism

Mining stocks are also severely impacted due to short-term tensions expected to follow the halving event. Even some Bitcoin-supportive analysts anticipate that the largest cryptocurrency could undergo a price correction of at least 40% after the block reward reduction. These developments have also affected ETF flows, leading to a gloomy market sentiment towards Bitcoin.