Institutional Investors Pull Back from Bitcoin ETFs After Strong Run

For the first time since US spot Bitcoin ETFs launched, institutional holdings have declined. A CoinShares report shows a 23% quarterly drop, from $27.4 billion in Q4 2024 to $21.2 billion in Q1 2025.

The retreat was partly due to Bitcoin’s 11% price slump, but some investors also cut positions—a sign of cooling sentiment. Financial advisers, however, defied the trend with a slight increase in allocations.

Analysts note a pivot in Bitcoin adoption: corporations now dominate as long-term holders, while institutional ETF demand weakens. The shift was underscored by BlackRock’s IBIT seeing its largest outflow ever ($430M) after 31 days of inflows.

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