By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cryptocurrency investment products and funds showed net outflows for a second straight week, a report from digital asset manager CoinShares showed on Monday, on persistent concerns about regulation and the possible fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The sector posted net outflows of $47 million in the week ended March 18, after experiencing outflows of $110 million the previous week. Previous to the last two weeks, digital asset investment products saw seven straight weeks of inflows.
The outflows came amid ongoing efforts to regulate crypto. President Joe Biden signed an executive order a few weeks ago requiring the government to assess the risks and benefits of creating a central bank digital dollar, as well as other crypto issues.
Bitcoin saw the largest outflow of $33 million in the latest week, the report showed, following $70 million outflows previously. Year-to-date flows remained positive, however, at $63 million.
On Monday, bitcoin was down 0.5% at $41,047. Since its intra-day low on Feb. 24 when Russia invaded Ukraine, bitcoin has gained about 18%.
"Even though bitcoin has retraced a bit after tagging $42,000 over the weekend, it still managed to close the week well above $40,000," said Mikkel Morch, executive director at digital asset hedge fund ARK36.
"Such a retrace seems healthy after a notable move up over the past week and shouldn't be viewed as a negative reaction to any particular piece of geopolitical or macro news. As long as bitcoin stays above $40,000, there is a good chance of continuation."
Ethereum-based products had outflows of $17 million last week, lower than the previous week, which saw outflows of $50 million. Ethereum continues to suffer from negative investor sentiment, analysts said, with year-to-date outflows of $151 million, or 1.2% of total assets under management.
In contrast, other altcoins saw inflows last week, such as Ripple, Polkadot, and Solana.
Blockchain-linked equity investment products also posted net inflows of $17 million last week, up from $4 million the previous week.
Assets under management at Grayscale and CoinShares, the world's two largest digital asset managers, fell from their highs to $37.25 billion and roughly $3.7 billion, respectively.