CoinShares: Ethereum Seconds Bitcoin as Crypto Fund Managers’ AUM Skyrocket

Institutional crypto fund managers witnessed an increase in their assets under management (AUM) in the past week, despite the declining appetite of U.S. investors for crypto investment. products According to the CoinShares Digital Asset Fund Flows report released on March 22, 2021, bitcoin (BTC) attracted $85.3 million in total inflows, while Ethereum managed 7.8m in the past week.

Bitcoin Fund Managers AUM Surge

The week ending March 20, 2021, was an excellent one for digital currency investment platforms like Grayscale and others as they saw an increase in their assets under management (AUM), despite the decrease in the daily trading volume of bitcoin investment products.

Per the CoinShares report, the world’s flagship cryptocurrency, bitcoin (BTC), attracted $85 million in inflows in the past week, ether (ETH), which got the largest share of inflows in the previous week, managed just 7.8 million, while polkadot (DOT) attracted $1.5 million. Other digital currencies including bitcoin cash (BCH), Binance coin (BNB), and XRP performed poorly, managing just $0.5m, 0.0m, and 0.0m in inflows last week.

The firm wrote:

“Last week the focus switched to bitcoin with inflows of $85m, while only $8 and $2m for ethereum and polkadot respectively. We continue to see very little activity in Binance, XRP and bitcoin cash.”

 In total, digital assets investment products of the different fund managers attracted an inflow of $99 million, with CoinShares being the only platform to record $25.9 in outflows. 

In the same vein, the combined AUM of cryptocurrency investment platforms surged to a total of $57.022  billion, with Grayscale leading the charge with $44.572 billion, followed by CoinShares and 3iQ, with $4.999 billion and $1.726 billion respectively.

Other digital asset managers including ETC Issuance, 21Shares, and Canada’s Purpose ETF also saw their AUMs significantly with inflows of 11.4 million, 3.0m and 30.2 million respectively.

Declining Appetite for ETPs

The CoinShares report also notes that there has been a significant decline in demand for crypto investment products from U.S. investors, with the European region and Canada witnessing a “sustained appetite.” 

“Since the February price highs and heightened volatility, we have seen a steady decline in appetite amongst investors. Although there looks to be a regional divide, with declining appetite from the US and sustained appetite in Europe and Canada,” the report added.

What’s more, the researchers have also revealed that bitcoin investment products trading volume crashed by roughly 35 percent to hit $713 million per day as compared to the $1.1 billion achieved in the week prior.

At press time, the combined market cap of the global crypto markets sits at $1.72 trillion, a 3.45 percent decrease in the past 24-hours.