Solana Funds Mark Record Losses While Bitcoin ETFs Gain

Investors may have plugged only small amounts of cash into Bitcoin products last week, but one major coin’s investment funds saw monster outflows: Solana.

Crypto speculators pulled out the largest weekly amount of cash on record from funds giving exposure to Solana (SOL), the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to European asset manager CoinShares.

In a Monday report, the firm said that $39 million left Solana funds available for European and Asian investors last week, setting a record for SOL fund outflows. An exchange-traded product (ETP) giving American investors Solana exposure doesn’t yet exist in the United States, though multiple firms have filed to offer such funds.

“Solana saw outflows of $39 million, the largest on record, as it faced a sharp decline in trading volumes of meme coins, on which it heavily relies,” CoinShares said Monday.

Meme coins are highly speculative cryptocurrencies that tend to be incredibly volatile, typically going up and down in value more than other digital assets. Such digital coins and tokens run on a number of crypto networks, but Solana has become the home of many of the biggest recent meme coins thanks to the network’s low fees.

Many top Solana-based meme tokens—including Dogwifhat (WIF) and Bonk—have plunged in value the past week. 

CoinShares added that of all the crypto products, investors plugged the most cash into Bitcoin funds—with $42 million entering ETPs, up from $13 million the previous week.

Overall, crypto fund inflows are down week over week, falling to $30 million last week after hitting $176 million the week prior.

Bitcoin investment funds exist all over the world, but the biggest right now are the spot ETFs approved in January by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Such funds, from the likes of BlackRock and Fidelity, trade on American stock exchanges.

Bitcoin is now trading for $58,500 per coin while Solana is priced at $144, according to CoinGecko. Over the past 30 days, the assets have shed 12% and 15% of their values, respectively, along with declines across the broader crypto market.

Edited by Andrew Hayward