Catenaa, Wednesday, August 12, 2026-US spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds attracted a combined $1.1 billion last week, posting their strongest weekly inflows since April despite subdued trading activity across both categories.
Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded about $853.5 million in net inflows, their highest weekly total since the week ending April 17. Spot ether ETFs added $244.9 million, also marking their strongest performance since April.
Bitcoin funds registered inflows during all five trading sessions.
Wednesday produced the largest daily intake at $244.4 million, followed by $211.5 million Tuesday. Thursday brought another $128.7 million, while Friday added $98.9 million.
BlackRock’s IBIT dominated demand, attracting about $693.7 million, more than 80% of all bitcoin ETF inflows for the week. Fidelity’s FBTC followed with $116.4 million.
The concentration suggests investors continue to favor the largest regulated vehicles when increasing bitcoin exposure.
The timing of the inflows has raised another possibility: the Coldcard hardware-wallet exploit may be influencing how some bitcoin holders think about custody.
Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that IBIT, FBTC and several other funds recorded inflows every day following the Coldcard incident.
The vulnerability, disclosed in late July, has been linked to at least $111 million in bitcoin thefts. Galaxy Research estimated total losses could eventually exceed $130 million.
OKX separately reported unusually strong inflows to centralized exchanges following the incident, suggesting some users may be reconsidering self-custody arrangements.
However, the Coldcard episode cannot fully explain the ETF rebound.
Ether ETFs simultaneously recorded their strongest week since April even though ETH holders have no exposure to the Bitcoin-only hardware-wallet vulnerability.
That points toward a broader return of investor demand for regulated crypto exposure.
Spot ether ETFs have now recorded five consecutive positive weeks, their longest winning streak of 2026.
Thursday delivered the strongest session with $92.2 million in inflows. Monday’s $11.4 million outflow was the week’s only negative session.
Large ETH holders have also been accumulating.
CryptoQuant data showed wallets holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH increased their combined holdings to a record 19.6 million ETH, compared with about 14 million in mid-2025.
Bitcoin, meanwhile, gained about 3% during the week and briefly traded above $65,300 after weaker-than-expected US employment figures changed expectations surrounding Federal Reserve policy.
The strongest signal may be the contrast between money entering ETFs and relatively weak trading activity.
Bitcoin ETF trading volume totaled about $8.19 billion, down 9% from the previous week and the second-lowest full weekly total since October 2024.
Ether ETF volume fell about 21% to roughly $2.38 billion.
The latest inflows have also not erased losses accumulated earlier this year. Bitcoin ETFs remain roughly $4.44 billion negative for 2026, while ether ETFs are down about $873 million.
Still, $1.1 billion flowing into the two categories during a relatively quiet trading week offers a potentially important signal.
Investors are putting fresh capital into regulated bitcoin and ether products before trading activity itself has staged a comparable recovery.
Whether that develops into a broader institutional return will depend on whether the inflow streak survives beyond a single strong week.
