After Bitcoin fell below $62,000, the market partially attributed the pressure to Michael Saylor selling 32 Bitcoin. Foreign media commented that this explanation is overly superficial. Peter Schiff’s latest statement refocuses attention on a larger factor: institutional funds that previously drove Bitcoin upward are now amplifying the downturn.
Schiff attributes both gains and losses to institutional buying and selling.
Schiff stated on X that what truly pushed Bitcoin to higher levels is not short-term sentiment, but the sustained buying by Strategy and a growing number of companies emulating its "Bitcoin Treasury" model. According to him, Strategy has accumulated over 840,000 Bitcoin, and this concentrated allocation has fundamentally altered market pricing.
He believes the market should not focus solely on the 32 bitcoins Seiler sold recently. More importantly, attention should be on how institutional buying previously drove prices up, and how prices may decline when this capital weakens or withdraws.
Continuous outflows from ETFs have become a more direct source of pressure.
The article notes that Bitcoin is currently trading at $60,717, down approximately 5.47% on the day and nearing a four-month low. Greater pressure is coming from sustained outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, rather than from single large sell-offs.
- The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have experienced net outflows for 13 consecutive trading days.
- Since May 14, a cumulative outflow of approximately $4.33 billion has occurred.
- ETF fund flows have turned negative since 2026.
This means that institutional demand, which supported the market at the beginning of the year, is weakening. In contrast to the large inflows of capital into the Bitcoin market via ETFs previously, the current continuous outflows are negatively impacting price performance.
Thaler says funds are shifting toward AI development.
Thaler also responded to this pullback on X, stating that over the past six months, capital markets have funded AI infrastructure at an unprecedented scale, amounting to approximately $40 billion. Meanwhile, since May 14, Bitcoin ETFs have seen approximately $4 billion in outflows, putting pressure on BTC.
However, Thaler does not believe this indicates that institutions are abandoning Bitcoin. He views the current situation as a temporary reallocation of funds, with some institutional capital shifting temporarily toward AI investments, rather than a deterioration in Bitcoin’s fundamentals.
The divergence lies in whether funds will flow back.
From their statements, Schiff and Siller, despite opposing positions, both attribute the cause to the same thing: the flow of institutional funds is driving Bitcoin’s price movements.
The two differ primarily in their subsequent assessments. Schiff views this pullback as a natural consequence of institutional funds exiting, believing that prices previously pushed up by concentrated buying will face pressure as capital departs. Siller, however, believes the current outflow is largely a short-term portfolio adjustment, and that funds may return to the Bitcoin market once the AI investment peak passes.