Outflows from the world's most popular cryptocurrency
totaled $33 million in the week ended Aug. 6, compared with $19.7 million the
previous week. But so far this year, bitcoin inflows remained a robust $4.2
billion.
Total crypto outflows, meanwhile, added up to nearly $26
million, although CoinShares noted that the magnitude of outflows was much less
than in May and June.
Sluggishness in the crypto market was due in part to global
regulatory crackdown, analysts say.
"There's all this focus on crypto because with all the
new financial products and innovative solutions, governments, which are here to
protect investors, are going to wonder whether this is a good idea and so,
they're going to look more into these," said Matthijs de Vries, chief
technology officer at infrastructure provider AllianceBlock.
Bitcoin on Monday hit an 11-week high above $46,000 . Since
mid-July, bitcoin has gained 46% against the dollar.
Data also showed that ether, the token used in the Ethereum
blockchain, also saw outflows of $2.8 million, from a nearly $9-million outflow
the previous week.
Last Thursday, Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain
network, went through a major software upgrade, which is expected to stabilize
transaction fees and reduce supply of the ether token.
Ether's supply is being reduced through "burning,"
in which tokens are sent to specialized addresses that have unobtainable
private keys. Without access to a private key, no one can use the tokens,
putting them outside the circulating supply.
About $59.2 million worth of ether tokens have been
"burned" since Thursday's software upgrade, according to
ultrasound.money, a website that tracks ether burning and supply.
Investors expect ether to accelerate gains as the Ethereum
network burns more of its tokens. Ether was last up 4.9% at $3,161.93. -Reuters