US spot Bitcoin ETFs just posted their strongest week of inflows since April, with roughly $1 billion flowing into the funds. The streak of daily positive inflows kicked off right after the Coldcard hardware wallet hack rattled the self-custody crowd, raising uncomfortable questions about where serious money feels safest parking its Bitcoin exposure.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) did most of the heavy lifting, pulling in $757.5 million over a rolling seven-day window.
The numbers behind the streak
The week didn’t start pretty. On July 31, Bitcoin ETFs collectively bled $212.7 million in net outflows.
Then the flows reversed, hard. On August 3, inflows hit $170.1 million. The next day brought $207.8 million. August 5 saw $241.6 million pour in, and August 6 added another $99.4 million.
The net result across the period landed somewhere between $620 million and $790 million depending on the tracker, though the broader weekly figure including surrounding days approached the $1 billion mark.
The Coldcard exploit and what it means for custody
The Coldcard exploit, a firmware vulnerability in one of the crypto industry’s most respected hardware wallets, drained between $114 million and $130 million in Bitcoin from over 5,200 wallets.
Analysts caution against drawing a straight line between the Coldcard hack and ETF inflows. But when the supposedly safest self-custody option gets compromised, regulated ETFs with institutional-grade custody from firms like Coinbase and Fidelity start looking more appealing to investors who were on the fence.
BlackRock’s growing dominance
IBIT capturing the lion’s share of inflows isn’t new, but the degree of concentration is worth noting. When one fund pulls in $757.5 million in a seven-day stretch, including a $128.3 million single-day haul, it starts to function less like a product and more like market infrastructure.
While Fidelity’s FBTC, Bitwise’s BITB, and others continue to attract capital, they’re increasingly fighting over a smaller slice of the pie.