Bitcoin ETF outflows, Silk Road BTC, Terraform Labs bankrupt | Weekly Recap

Bitcoin (BTC) mounted a recovery, taking the rest of the market with it, despite sustained outflows from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. The U.S. government made moves to sell $131 million in BTC confiscated from Silk Road. Meanwhile, Terraform Labs goes bankrupt.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs record outflows

• This week featured massive negative net flows from the spot Bitcoin ETF market, largely due to substantial outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), as investors exited the project due to high fees.

• Particularly, on Jan. 24, the spot Bitcoin ETF market recorded the largest intraday outflow since it opened for trading. The products saw a cumulative negative netflow of $159 million that day, which marked their ninth day of trading.

• All other ETF products witnessed inflows on Jan. 24 besides the GBTC. However, these inflows were not substantial enough to overcome the outflows from the GBTC, which stood at a massive $429 million.

• On Jan. 25, the tenth day of trading, these products also saw another negative netflow, totaling $80 million. While other products, such as BlackRock’s IBIT, witnessed inflows, GBTC again recorded massive outflows.

• For Jan. 25, the Grayscale ETF product saw $394 million outflows, which negated the $170 million inflows from BlackRock’s IBIT product and $101 million inflows from Fidelity’s FBTC.

• Amid these outflows, a report earlier in the week confirmed that Grayscale has sold 52,227 Bitcoin tokens worth $2.14 billion since the ETF approval. Data confirmed that Grayscale held 566,973 BTC worth $23.21 billion at the time.

• These selloffs and outflows compounded the selling pressure on BTC, contributing to the sustained downtrend. However, JPMorgan analysts stressed on Jan. 25 that selloffs from GBTC were slowing.

Alameda withdraws Grayscale case, FTT surges

• As these GBTC outflows persisted, reports from this week confirmed that Alameda Research, a sister firm to FTX, withdrew its case against Grayscale, its executives and affiliated companies.

• Interestingly, private data further suggested that FTX had sold 22 million GBTC shares, a move that might have influenced the recent case withdrawal. FTX Token (FTT), the native token of the FTX ecosystem, surged 10% on the back of these reports.

Asia enters the Bitcoin ETF discussion 

• This week, Asia also took the spotlight in the discussions surrounding spot Bitcoin ETFs, as the U.S. led. Reports from Jan. 22 suggested that Hong Kong could welcome the debut spot BTC ETF products in the middle of the year.

• Shortly after this disclosure, it was confirmed that multiple asset managers in Asia, including Venture Smart Financial Holdings and Value Partners Group, have registered their interest in launching the product.

Bitwise exposes ETF wallet, SEC delays spot Ethereum ETF

• In the U.S., asset manager Bitwise became the first firm among those managing spot Bitcoin ETFs to share the physical Bitcoin address of its ETF product. This move, lauded by the crypto community, was geared toward bolstering transparency.

• The wallet started receiving public donations after it became public, with one notable inflow of 0.00042069 BTC from an unidentified address. The address also received BRC-20 tokens, with total donations amounting to $5,000.

• Meanwhile, the U.S. SEC deferred a decision on two spot Ethereum products this week, delaying BlackRock’s product until March, and Grayscale’s filing till May. 

• Before these decisions from the regulatory watchdog, commissioner Hester Peirce claimed the SEC would not take the same approach for spot Ethereum ETF filings as it did for the Bitcoin products, noting they’ve learned their lesson.

Bitcoin recovers $42,000

• Despite the bearish pressure amid the outflows from spot Bitcoin ETF products, Bitcoin recorded a recovery later in the week. BTC collapsed to a yearly low of $38,555 on Jan. 23 after holding off the bears at $40,000 for an extended period.

• The asset staged its recovery shortly after this drop, surging 4.66% to $41,823 on Jan. 26. Bitcoin eventually reclaimed and held above $42,000 on Jan. 27, hitting a 10-day high of $42,842. The rest of the market recorded a similar upsurge in response.

US government to dump BTC tokens

• While Bitcoin aimed to register a full-blown recovery from the latest downturn, selloff concerns resurfaced with reports of the U.S. government’s intent to sell off $131 million in BTC confiscated from Silk Road three years back. 

• This week also witnessed another development surrounding the defunct Silk Road marketplace. A drug lord from the marketplace pleaded guilty to operating an illicit drug network, forfeiting about $150 million in crypto proceeds.

Terraform Labs files for bankruptcy

• After nearly two years of the implosion of the Terra ecosystem, Terraform Labs, the firm behind the project, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. this week amid its legal battles in the country.
• Recall that crypto trading platform Crypto.com announced plans to delist Terra (LUNA) last week. Following Terraform Labs’ bankruptcy filing, the exchange seeks to delist Terra Classic (LUNC) as well.