Public Bitcoin treasuries step in with $552M buys amid $1.25B ETF outflows

Between July 31 and August 4, public treasuries absorbed nearly half of the selling pressure made by Bitcoin investors exposed via ETFs.

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.

Publicly listed Bitcoin (BTC) treasury companies bought $552 million worth of BTC while holders divested exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares between July 31 and August 4.

According to Farside Investors’ data, US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs registered $1.25 billion in outflows between July 31 and August 4. At the same time, data from Bitcoin Treasuries highlighted that corporate treasuries added 4,869 BTC in the same period.

The amount added by Bitcoin treasuries is worth nearly $552 million at the price of $113,418 as of press time, almost $700 million below the amount shed by ETF investors.

Metaplanet bought the largest amount of Bitcoin in the period, with 463 BTC added, worth over $54 million.

James Butterfill, CoinShares’ head of research, attributed the recent outflows to macro drivers. He cited last week’s Federal Open Market Committee remarks and stronger-than-expected economic data.

Supply shock

Despite the sell pressure from ETF holders surpassing the acquisition by publicly traded Bitcoin treasury vehicles, the BTC supply shrank significantly this year.

As of Aug. 4, public companies have bought 343,394 BTC, while Bitcoin investors exposed through ETFs have added 181,276 BTC. The combined amount of these two cohorts equals 524,670 BTC in practically seven months.

According to Glassnode data, 98,503 BTC were mined during the same period, over 5x lower than the amount absorbed by public companies and ETFs.

Notably, estimates point to a total of 164,250 BTC to be mined this year, which makes the stash of ETF investors and public companies more than 3x higher already, with more than four months to go.

Using Bitcoin’s price as a proxy, the supply shock scenario seems to be apparent to investors. Despite the recent macro turmoils, Bitcoin fell by only 4.2% last week.

Furthermore, BTC is still only 7.5% away from its all-time high of $122,054.86 registered on July 14.

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