Institutional crypto managers report record AUM despite US inflows plummeting

Institutional inflows have declined 59% this past week, but AUM is at an all-time high.

According to digital asset investment manager CoinShares, institutional demand in the United States has declined slightly, while European funds are still buying.

According to Coinshares’ Monday “Fund Flows Weekly” report, combined flows into institutional crypto products totaled $99 million for the week ending March 20.

The data indicates a significant decline in institutional demand, with inflows down 59% from the previous week, which recorded $242 million.

However, the researchers noted that the assets under management figure for the top institutional investment products reached a record high of $57 billion.

The report added that  while demand has declined in the U.S., institutions located in Europe and Canada continued buying last week.

Daily volumes for Bitcoin (BTC)-related products have also declined by around 35% to $713 million per day versus $1.1 billion per day on average for 2021. However, trading volumes remain steady at $11.8 billion per day.

Following strong Ether (ETH) inflows in February, institutions appear to have again set their sights on Bitcoin, with $85 million entering BTC funds compared with just $8 million for ETH-based products last week. CoinShares noted that there was very little interest in Binance Coin (BNB)-, XRP– and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)-based products respectively.

Grayscale remains the market leader for institutional investment, with its total assets under management tagging $44.2 billion, according to a Tuesday tweet from the firm. Of that total, 84% has been invested in the firm’s Bitcoin trust.

03/22/21 UPDATE: Net Assets Under Management, Holdings per Share, and Market Price per Share for our Investment Products.

Total AUM: $44.2 billion$BTC $BCH $ETH $ETC $ZEN $LTC $XLM $ZEC $BAT $LINK $MANA $FIL $LPT pic.twitter.com/q6krycE3zi

— Grayscale (@Grayscale) March 22, 2021

CoinShares’ own fund, which ranks second in terms of AUM with just under $5 billion, was the only institutional crypto manager to record an outflow for the week, losing $25.9 million. The Canadian 3iQ fund ranked third increased by $1.1 million to a total AUM of $1.7 billion.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is continuing to correct after dropping 3.6% over the past 24 hours to trade at $54,850. Ethereum has lost 4% over the same period and is currently changing hands for roughly $1,700.