[News Brief] May 22, morning | U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs Record Net Outflows for a Fifth Consecutive Day

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows for a fifth consecutive trading day.

According to Odaily, citing SoSoValue data, total net outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs reached $101 million on May 21, U.S. Eastern Time.

ARK Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB posted net inflows of $2.8287 million on the day, the largest daily inflow among the products. ARKB’s cumulative net inflows stand at $1.282 billion.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s IBIT saw net outflows of $104 million, the largest daily outflow. IBIT’s cumulative net inflows were tallied at $64.842 billion.

Total net assets of spot Bitcoin ETFs stand at $101.058 billion, and the ratio of ETF net assets to Bitcoin’s total market capitalization is 6.49%. Cumulative net inflows are $57.189 billion.

Spot ETF fund flows are widely used as a key indicator of institutional investor demand.

PANews, citing OKX market data, reported that Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $77,000.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $76,974.20, down 0.37% on the day.

According to Odaily, the final U.S. one-year inflation expectation for May came in at 4.8%.

The previous month’s reading was 4.50%.

Rising inflation expectations may weaken expectations for monetary easing and weigh on investor sentiment toward risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.

Odaily reported that U.S. interest-rate futures traders are now pricing in the earliest possible timing for a Federal Reserve rate hike as October.

This outlook is based on market pricing, and growing expectations of a rate hike could pressure sentiment across risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

According to Odaily, Bitcoin Historian said on X that State Street gained additional indirect Bitcoin exposure worth more than $145 million through MicroStrategy (MSTR).

The purchase is interpreted as indirect investment via shares of MicroStrategy, a company known for its large Bitcoin holdings, rather than a direct purchase of Bitcoin. MicroStrategy has drawn attention as a vehicle for institutional investors seeking BTC exposure through corporate equity.

Odaily, citing Lookonchain, reported that wallet address 0xf01d opened a 5x leveraged long position in perpetual contracts on about 4.58 million ONDO tokens within the past hour.

The notional value of the position is about $2.1 million, with total exposure of around $10.5 million. A leveraged long position is a trade that bets on the asset’s price increasing.

According to Whale Alert, 121.4 million USDT, worth about $121.33 million, was transferred from an unknown wallet to Bitfinex.

Large stablecoin inflows to exchanges are sometimes interpreted as potential buying power entering the market, though the specific purpose of this transfer has not been confirmed.

According to Odaily, citing SoSoValue data, spot Ethereum ETFs recorded total net outflows of $32.577 million on May 21, U.S. Eastern Time.

By product, BlackRock’s ETHA saw the largest outflow, with $38.0076 million leaving the fund. In contrast, BlackRock’s staked ETH ETF ETHB posted net inflows of $3.2936 million, while Bitwise’s ETHW saw net inflows of $2.1371 million.

Total net assets of spot Ethereum ETFs were recorded at $12.211 billion. The ratio of ETF net assets to Ethereum’s total market capitalization stands at 4.73%, and cumulative net inflows are $11.622 billion.

Odaily reported that Intercontinental Exchange is working with OKX to launch perpetual futures contracts linked to oil prices.

According to the two companies, the pricing benchmark for the perpetual futures will use Intercontinental Exchange’s Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate futures prices. The products will be offered in jurisdictions where OKX is authorized to provide perpetual contract trading.

Binance CEO Richard Teng pushed back against a Wall Street Journal report, saying it contained “fundamental errors” regarding both the facts and Binance’s compliance framework.

According to Odaily, Teng said on X that the transactions cited by The Wall Street Journal occurred before the individuals involved were placed under sanctions, and that Binance has never allowed sanctioned persons to trade on its platform.

He also claimed that Binance had already conducted its own internal investigation before being contacted by the newspaper and had shared those findings, but they were not reflected in the report.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that more than $850 million linked to Iran’s regime had moved through Binance over the past two years. Teng said Binance maintains a zero-tolerance policy on illicit activity and will continue cooperating with U.S. and global law enforcement agencies to combat financial crime.