Crypto funds broke three weeks of net positive flows, after US investor sentiment took a hit following delays to the long-awaited CLARITY Act, set to reach the Senate in January 2026.
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Crypto investment products saw $952 million in outflows, marking the first red week in four, as investor sentiment took a hit due to delays to a key US crypto regulatory bill.
Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) recorded $952 million in outflows, led by $555 million for Ether (ETH) funds and $460 million for Bitcoin (BTC) funds.
The large-scale outflows were mainly attributed to delays to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or Clarity Act, a matter that prolonged “regulatory uncertainty and concerns over whale selling,” according to a CoinShares report published Monday.
“As a result, it now appears highly unlikely that ETPs will exceed last year’s inflows, with total assets under management standing at $46.7bn compared with $48.7bn in 2024,” CoinShares said.
The lion’s share, or $990 million of the outflows, came from the US, marginally offset by $46 million in inflows from Canadian investors and $15.6 million from Germany.
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Clarity Act delays were the main catalyst for crypto fund outflows: Analyst
On Thursday, White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks said that the Senate markup for the long-awaited Clarity Act will occur in January 2026, as opposed to previous expectations that the bill would get to President Donald Trump’s desk before the end of 2025.
”We are closer than ever to passing the landmark crypto market structure legislation that President Trump has called for. We look forward to finishing the job in January,” Sacks wrote in a Thursday X post.
CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, attributed the erosion in investor sentiment to the delays related to the bill.
“Ethereum saw the largest outflows, totaling $555m, this is understandable given it has the most to gain or lose from the Clarity Act,” wrote Butterfill.
The Clarity Act seeks to define crypto securities and commodities, providing much-awaited clarity on the jurisdictions of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission relating to digital assets.
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Despite the delays, the crypto industry’s best-performing traders by returns, who are tracked as “smart money” traders on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform, continued betting on Ether’s short-term price increase.
Smart money traders were net long on Ether with a cumulative $476 million worth of leveraged long positions, while being net short on Bitcoin for $109 million, according to Nansen.
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