Bitcoin ETFs shed $643m in biggest daily outflow since June

Spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in the US in January 2024, giving brokerage investors a regulated way to hold bitcoin alongside stocks and bonds, with BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC emerging as the largest vehicles. Through most of October the funds held their ground, but the month closed with roughly $516 million in net outflows after Thursday's revelation that hackers had drained about $6.4 billion from Binance, the industry's biggest exchange. That hack hit the market the day before Friday's $643.2 million exodus.

Redemptions hit the two largest funds hardest: Fidelity's FBTC lost $201 million and BlackRock's IBIT shed $233.7 million, wiping out the prior week's gains in a single session. Ethereum ETFs extended their own retreat to a fifth straight day, losing $156 million, meaning holders of both products now face a market pulling liquidity from regulated wrappers rather than adding it. Authorized participants and market makers absorbed the redemption flow, while issuers watch whether the pattern holds into November.

US spot bitcoin ETFs are pitched as a way to hold bitcoin exposure without exchange custody risk, yet Friday's $643 million exodus shows how tightly that exposure still tracks events at exchanges the funds sit apart from. A hack on Binance, not any flaw in the ETFs themselves, pulled money out of products built to insulate holders from exactly that kind of shock. That coupling cuts against the pitch that regulated wrappers decouple investors from exchange risk; whether it fades with time or hardens is unsettled.

Farside Investors' daily tracking will show whether the four consecutive inflow sessions that preceded October 30 resume or whether the $643.2 million reversal marks the start of a longer retreat. A repeat of that scale in the next weekly print would point to the Binance hack's lasting pull on sentiment, while a quick rebound would suggest the market treated it as an isolated shock. The next full week's net figure is the one to watch.