Whales Remember Crypto Exists: $1.1B Flows Back After Five Weeks of Pain

Crypto investment products surged back to life last week as improving macro conditions triggered a sharp reversal in institutional sentiment, according to data released Monday by asset manager CoinShares. The $1.1 billion in weekly inflows marked the strongest weekly performance since early January, with tentative ceasefire developments in Iran and softer-than-expected US CPI data restoring investor confidence, according to James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares. Because nothing says "we love risk assets again" like a couple of geopolitical head fakes and inflation data that didn't absolutely suck. Welcome back, institutional friends—we missed you at the taco stand.

U.S. investors dominated the return to crypto, accounting for $1.06 billion or 95% of global flows. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs captured the bulk of this activity with $833.2 million in weekly inflows, according to Farside Investors data. Americans really said "hold my beer" and dumped over a billion dollars back into crypto while the rest of the world watched from the sidelines like people who definitely didn't fomo in at $69k.

Trading volumes rose 13% week-over-week to $21 billion, per CoinShares, though this remains well below the year-to-date average of $31 billion, suggesting room for further recovery. We're not out of the woods yet, but at least the forest fire seems to be contained for now.

The inflow surge revealed sophisticated institutional positioning as investors simultaneously increased both bullish bets and downside hedges. While Bitcoin funds globally attracted $871 million and Ethereum saw $196.5 million last week after three weeks of outflows, short-Bitcoin products recorded $20.2 million in inflows—their highest weekly weekly total since November 2024. This dual positioning suggests institutions are adding crypto exposure while maintaining protection against potential volatility. Smart money playing both sides like a degens at a blackjack table who also bought insurance.

Last week's performance brought Bitcoin's year-to-date inflows to just under $2 billion, representing 83% of the $2.3 billion in total crypto ETP inflows recorded in 2026 so far. Ethereum remains one of the few assets in negative territory for the year with cumulative outflows of $130 million, despite its recent weekly recovery. The broader inflow surge has lifted total assets under management to levels not seen since early February. Meanwhile ETH is out here getting absolutely rinsed, down $130 million on the year while BTC collects inflows like a retirement fund.

XRP funds led the way the previous week with nearly $120 million worth of inflows, even outpacing Bitcoin funds during that week—but XRP investments fell to $19.3 million last week, per the CoinShares report. XRP really said "I'll take that crown for a week and then give it back, thanks."

Last week's institutional crypto surge follows five consecutive weeks of outflows totaling $4 billion that had dampened market sentiment through March. Five weeks of pain, four billion dollars out the door, and now everyone's suddenly bullish again. Classic crypto—the asset class with the memory of a goldfish and the emotional regulation of a day trader.

Amid last week's rebound came the launch of Morgan Stanley's Bitcoin ETF, which pulled in nearly $62 million in investments last week after its Wednesday launch, per Farside Investors. The firm has already filed for Ethereum and Solana ETFs, and Morgan Stanley's Amy Oldenburg told Decrypt last week that the firm also plans to explore crypto offerings like a tokenized money market fund and tax-harvesting services for clients. Big bank energy: "We watched you all degens make money for years, and now we'd like some of that, please."

A technical exploit of blockchain token bridge Hyperbridge led to the artificial creation of 1 billion Polkadot (DOT) tokens valued above $1.1 billion—but it only saw around $237,000 in losses due to limited liquidity, the firm reported on Monday. The protocol, which allows users to transfer funds to and from distinct blockchains—like Ethereum to Polkadot—said the exploit was as a result of a vulnerability in its proof verification logic. The malicious actor has not yet been identified. Someone out there minted a billion dollars worth of DOT out of thin air and only got away with $237k. That's not a hack, that's a participation trophy.

Foundry Digital, operator of the world's largest Bitcoin mining pool, officially launched its Foundry Zcash Pool on Monday with multiple institutional mining customers already onboarded. The pool has captured about 29% of the Zcash network's hashrate since its March announcement, per on-chain data, marking a rapid expansion into privacy-focused cryptocurrency mining beyond Bitcoin. Foundry CEO Mike Colyer positioned the launch as addressing a critical infrastructure gap around the coin. Privacy coins: still a thing, apparently, and Foundry wants in on that sweet, regulatory gray-area action.

Publicly traded Ethereum treasury BitMine Immersion Technologies last week made its largest weekly purchase of ETH since December, adding 71,524 ETH valued around $157 million. The firm now holds 4,874,858 ETH worth more than $10.7 billion as Ethereum changes hands around $2,208 on Monday. The firm holds the largest stockpile of the cryptocurrency. BitMine has maintained the increased pace of ETH buys in each of the past four weeks. BitMine just casually buying $157 million of ETH like it's buying office supplies. "Yes, I'll take 71,000 ETH, put it on the corporate card."