Capital continues to pour into crypto investment vehicles, with digital assets attracting another $2 billion in fresh inflows last week—pushing the three-week total past $5.5 billion.
This steady momentum comes at a time when broader market confidence is being buoyed by unexpectedly strong U.S. economic data, despite underlying geopolitical and macroeconomic concerns.
Bitcoin led the charge once again, accounting for the lion’s share of last week’s inflows at around $1.8 billion, according to a new update from CoinShares. Ethereum followed with a solid showing of $149 million, while Solana and a few others posted more modest gains. The steady stream of capital into these products suggests that investors continue to view crypto—particularly Bitcoin—as a resilient asset class amid global uncertainty.
While markets were rattled earlier by disappointing GDP numbers, a deeper look at the data reveals more strength than weakness. The headline GDP figure dipped due to a decline in exports, largely linked to new tariffs. However, underlying metrics such as core GDP, which reflects private sector health, showed a strong 3% rise. Payroll numbers also exceeded forecasts, reinforcing the narrative that the economy may be more robust than surface-level figures suggest.
This evolving landscape has investors adjusting their expectations. While futures markets are still pricing in rate cuts for 2025, signs of sticky inflation and strong job growth are reducing the odds of a rate reduction at the Federal Reserve’s next meeting. CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, commented that the current data set is unlikely to spur immediate policy changes from the Fed.
Beyond macro trends, investor behavior is also shifting. Butterfill notes that institutional allocations to crypto have climbed, reaching their highest point in a year. A recent survey from the firm shows Bitcoin ownership among fund managers has jumped by 15 percentage points since January, now standing at 63%. Average digital asset exposure has increased as well, rising to 1.8% across portfolios.
However, one concern still dominates: volatility. Both new and experienced investors continue to cite price swings as their main hesitation, pointing to an ongoing disconnect between the actual behavior of crypto markets and the fears surrounding them.
Jefferies chief market strategist David Zervos believes an upcoming power shift at the Federal Reserve could benefit U.S. equity markets.
Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto custody bank, is urging its institutional clients to move away from major stablecoins like USDC, Agora USD (AUSD), and Usual USD (USD0), recommending instead a shift to the Global Dollar (USDG) — a stablecoin issued by Paxos and backed by a consortium that includes Anchorage itself.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has voiced concerns over the rise of zero-knowledge (ZK) digital identity projects, specifically warning that systems like World — formerly Worldcoin and backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman — could undermine pseudonymity in the digital world.
A new report by the European Central Bank (ECB) reveals that digital payment methods continue to gain ground across the euro area, though cash remains a vital part of the consumer payment landscape — particularly for small-value transactions and person-to-person (P2P) payments.