Bitcoin ETF Outflows Continue
Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States recorded another day of outflows on Thursday, with $165.8 million leaving the funds. This brings the weekly total to $403.9 million in net redemptions, according to data from SoSoValue.
Perhaps more concerning is the trend we’re seeing. These outflows could mark the fifth consecutive week of net withdrawals from Bitcoin ETFs. Year-to-date losses have now reached $2.7 billion. Trading activity has also been shrinking, falling 21% over the week and hitting its lowest levels since late December. That suggests investor interest might be waning, or maybe people are just waiting for clearer signals.
Metaplanet Pushes Back Against Critics
Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich responded to accusations that his company misled investors about its Bitcoin strategy. Critics on social media platform X argued that Metaplanet delayed price-sensitive information about large Bitcoin purchases and options trades funded with shareholder capital. They also claimed the company obscured losses from its derivatives strategy and didn’t fully disclose key terms of its Bitcoin-backed borrowings.
In a detailed post on Friday, Gerovich pushed back hard. He argued that Metaplanet promptly reported all Bitcoin purchases, option strategies, and borrowings. His position is that critics are misreading financial statements rather than uncovering actual misconduct. It’s one of those situations where interpretation matters as much as the numbers themselves.
White House Continues Stablecoin Talks
The U.S. White House held another meeting between cryptocurrency and banking industry representatives this week. They’re trying to work through differences on a market structure bill currently under consideration in the Senate. The focus seems to be on stablecoin yield provisions.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse mentioned in a Fox News interview that his company’s chief legal officer attended the meeting. The White House reportedly refocused talks on limiting how stablecoin rewards should be paid. This was the third meeting in 16 days to discuss stablecoin provisions that have stalled the crypto bill.
No agreement was reached on Thursday, but executives from Coinbase and Ripple said progress was made. The White House’s crypto advisers suggested a compromise: letting third parties like exchanges offer stablecoin rewards only on transaction activity, not on balances.
Market Movements and Developer Perspectives
Bitcoin developer Matt Corallo addressed recent market concerns in an interesting way. He dismissed the idea that Bitcoin’s recent sell-off is due to quantum computing fears. His reasoning was straightforward: if quantum computing risks were really driving the market, Ethereum would be soaring relative to Bitcoin. Instead, Ether is down 58% since a major crypto market crash in early October.
“I strongly disagree with the characterization that Bitcoin’s current price is materially because of some kind of quantum risk,” Corallo told journalist Laura Shin. He added, “If that were true, then Ethereum would be up substantially on Bitcoin.”
At the end of the week, Bitcoin was trading around $68,004, with Ether at $1,972 and XRP at $1.42. The total cryptocurrency market cap stood at $2.33 trillion. Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies, Stable (STABLE) led gainers with a 19.62% increase, while Humanity Protocol (H) was the biggest loser, dropping 27.34%.
Regulatory and Security Developments
In other news, a U.S. federal judge in Tennessee temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its gambling laws against prediction-market operator Kalshi’s sports-event contracts. The ruling allows Kalshi to continue offering these contracts while its lawsuit against Tennessee regulators proceeds.
South Korean lawmakers are increasing pressure on financial regulators after crypto exchange Bithumb made a significant error. The exchange mistakenly credited customers with Bitcoin it didn’t actually hold during a promotional event. Instead of crediting 2,000 Korean won (about $1.40) per user, Bithumb credited 2,000 Bitcoin per user, distributing a total of 620,000 BTC that the exchange didn’t possess.
Lawmakers criticized the Financial Services Commission for failing to detect critical flaws in Bithumb’s internal systems despite multiple inspections since 2022. Representative Kang Min-guk called the incident more than a technical mishap, pointing to structural weaknesses in the crypto market.
