Clarity Act delays led to $952M in crypto fund outflows: CoinShares

Crypto investment products just saw $952 million in outflows — first red week in four — as investor sentiment got wrecked by delays to the key US crypto regulatory bill. Three weeks of net positive flows? Gone.

Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) bled $952 million, led by $555 million for Ether (ETH) funds and $460 million for Bitcoin (BTC) funds. The carnage was mainly attributed to delays to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (Clarity Act), prolonging 'regulatory uncertainty and concerns over whale selling,' per CoinShares' Monday report.

CoinShares dropped this brutal truth bomb: '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.'

The US took the biggest hit — $990 million of the outflows came from there, barely offset by $46 million in inflows from Canadian investors and $15.6 million from Germany.

On Thursday, White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks said the Senate markup for the long-awaited Clarity Act will happen in January 2026 — not before end of 2025 as previously expected. Sacks posted on X: '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.'

CoinShares' head of research James Butterfill directly linked the investor sentiment erosion to the bill delays: 'Ethereum saw the largest outflows, totaling $555m, this is understandable given it has the most to gain or lose from the Clarity Act.'

The Clarity Act seeks to define crypto securities vs. commodities, finally clarifying the SEC and CFTC's jurisdictions over digital assets.

Despite the delays, Nansen's tracked 'smart money' traders — the crypto industry's best performers — kept betting on Ether's short-term price increase. They were net long on Ether with $476 million in leveraged long positions, while net short on Bitcoin for $109 million.