Ethereum Dominates with $2.76B Inflows as Bitcoin Lags at $552M—Crypto’s Hierarchy Shifts

Crypto's old guard gets a wake-up call as Ethereum flexes its institutional muscle—pulling in five times Bitcoin's haul. Who still thinks 'digital gold' is the only game in town?

The Inflow Gap: ETH Eats BTC's Lunch

While Bitcoin scrapes together $552 million in fresh capital, Ethereum's $2.76 billion tidal wave proves smart money wants programmable money—not just a shiny store of value. TradFi dinosaurs take note: the blockchain buffet has more than one entrée.

DeFi Summer Never Ended

Ethereum's monster inflows scream one thing: yield-hungry whales are parking funds where the action is. From staking rewards to L2 arbitrage, ETH’s ecosystem turns idle cash into working capital—while Bitcoin holders pray for ETF approvals and Elon tweets.

The numbers don’t lie: when Wall Street finally ‘gets’ crypto, they skip the textbook hedge and dive straight into the internet’s financial layer. Maybe those Goldman interns actually read the whitepapers this time.

ETH Inflows Smash Records

In its latest edition of ‘Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report,’ CoinShares revealed that Ethereum attracted a record $2.87 billion in inflows last week, which accounted for 77% of total market inflows. This pushed its year-to-date figure to a whopping $11 billion. Ethereum’s inflows also dominate relative to assets under management, as it made up 29% compared to Bitcoin’s 11.6%.

Inflows into Bitcoin reached $552 million, comparatively smaller than Ethereum’s haul. Short-bitcoin investment vehicles nevertheless gained traction, securing an additional $4 million. Investors continued spreading capital across other assets.

For instance, Solana brought in $176.5 million, XRP $125.9 million, followed by Sui at $11.3 million, chainlink at $1.2 million, and Cardano with $0.8 million. Multi-asset products managed a minor $0.4 million inflow.

However, not all assets fared equally. Litecoin experienced outflows of $0.4 million, while Ton registered the steepest reversal, with $1 million withdrawn from funds during the same period.

Of the $3.73 billion inflows, the US captured nearly all – about 99%. Other countries contributed smaller portions. Canada followed with $33.7 million, alongside Hong Kong’s $20.9 million and Australia’s $12.1 million. Switzerland also contributed $4.2 million. On the other hand, Sweden reported $49.9 million in outflows, while Brazil recorded $10.6 million exiting investment products over the past week.

The subsequent week, however, painted a different picture as markets slid sharply.

Crypto Markets Face Fresh Sell-Off

Digital asset markets faced turbulence on 18th August as bitcoin fell from $118K to $115K and Ethereum also dropped from $4,500 to $4,300, triggering over $400 million in long liquidations. The sell-off extended last week’s decline, when Bitcoin retreated 5% from all-time highs amid $1 billion in DeFi liquidations and profit-taking.

Funding rates had already hinted at stress, with BTC perpetuals softening since Friday. Deribit’s funding rate, above 20% for most of last week, turned negative by Saturday and echoed a pattern seen before the August 1 drop to $112K. With Jackson Hole looming, QCP Capital stated that traders view the MOVE as pre-event de-risking. Options markets now tilt bearish, and puts are favored across maturities.

Still, corporate buyers remain active. Tokyo-listed Metaplanet, for one, added 775 BTC over the weekend.