Digital asset investment products saw $141 million in outflows during the week ending on May 20, a move tha reduced the total assets under management (AUM) by institutional funds down to $38 billion, the lowest level since July 2021.
According to the latest edition of CoinShare’s weekly Digital Asset Fund Flows report, Bitcoin (BTC) was the primary focus of outflows after experiencing a decline of $154 million for the week. The removal of funds coincided with a choppy week of trading that saw the price of BTC oscillate between $28,600 and $31,430.
BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
Despite the sizable outflow, the month-to-date BTC flow for May remain positive at $187.1 million, while the year-to-date figure stands at $307 million.
On a more positive note, the multi-asset category of investment products managed to record a total of $9.7 million worth of inflows last week. This brings the yearly total inflow into these products to $185 million, representing 5.3% of the total AUM.
CoinShares pointed to the uptick in volatility as a possible source for the increased inflows into multi-asset investment products, which can be seen as “safer relative to single line investment products during volatile periods.” So far in 2020, these investment products have only experienced two weeks of outflows.
Cardano and Polkadot led the altcoin inflows with increases of $1 million each, followed by $700,000 worth of inflows into Ripple (XRP) and $500,000 into Solana (SOL).
Flows by asset during the week ending May 20, 2022. Source: CoinShares
Out of all the assets covered, Ethereum (ETH) has seen the worst performance so far this year with $44 million worth of outflows in the month of May bringing its year-to-date figure to $239 million.
Strengthening dollar continues to impact crypto market sentiment
The declining interest in digital asset investment products comes amidst the backdrop of a strengthening dollar, which has been “one of the most important macro factors driving asset prices over the last six months” according to cryptocurrency market intelligence firm Delphi Digital.
U.S. dollar currency index. 1-week chart. Source: Delphi Digital
As shown on the chart above, the Dollar Index (DXY) has risen from 95 at the start of 2022 to 102 on May 23, a year-to-date gain of 6.8%. This marks the fastest year-over-year change for the DXY in recent history and led to a breakout from the range it had been stuck in for the past seven-years.
Delphi Digital said,
“This DXY strength has been a consistent drag to risk asset performances over this same time period.”
Source: Cointelegraph
