Blackrock, Fidelity Lead $265M Bitcoin ETF Outflows as Ether Gains

A Sharp One-Day Reversal

US spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $265.4 million in total net outflows on July 31. Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led the retreat with $122.7 million in redemptions, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $54.8 million (with the two funds accounting for roughly two-thirds of the day’s total outflow).

The reversal stands out because it followed a strong inflow day. On July 30, the same funds had attracted $233.1 million in net inflows, with IBIT alone pulling in $183.4 million, or about 79% of that total. Bitwise’s BITB added $20.7 million, Fidelity’s FBTC brought in $15.5 million, and Morgan Stanley, Vaneck, Grayscale, and Ark 21shares products rounded out gains, with all seven tracked funds posting inflows that day, according to Bitcoin.com News.

IBIT’s net assets fell from $47.67 billion on July 30 to $46.52 billion on July 31, even though the fund still holds an estimated 739,066 BTC. The swings once again show just how sensitive these products remain, even for the largest funds in the category.

Ether Funds Buck the Trend

While bitcoin ETFs bled money, spot ether ETFs moved the opposite direction, with total net inflows climbing to roughly $9.03 million yesterday. In this, Blackrock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) again led contributions, extending a pattern of ether products outperforming their bitcoin counterparts on several recent trading days.

The divergence wasn’t limited to ether as Bitcoin.com News recently reported that XRP-linked ETFs too crossed $1 billion in combined assets, part of a broader rotation of institutional interest into altcoin-linked products even as bitcoin funds wobbled. ETHA has led ether inflows on multiple recent trading days, a pattern several market watchers have tied to renewed institutional appetite for ether’s role in tokenization and stablecoin settlement rather than bitcoin’s more familiar store-of-value pitch.

A Third Straight Quarter of Outflows

The July 31 pullback fits a longer pattern because the second quarter of 2026 marked the third consecutive quarter of net outflows for US spot bitcoin ETFs, even as total assets under management across the category held around $105 billion. The category’s worst single day on record came in May 2026, when IBIT alone recorded approximately $528 million in outflows.

Broader uncertainty around Washington’s crypto agenda, including the stalled CLARITY Act ethics negotiations, has added to the caution among some institutional allocators. Bitcoin’s own price action has compounded the swings, and the asset has traded well off its prior highs for much of the quarter.

With IBIT still controlling the largest share of category assets, its daily flows will likely keep setting the tone for the broader bitcoin ETF complex heading into August.