U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have shed almost $1 billion in outflows since Could 16, with BlackRock’s IBIT alone accounting for $448 million in a single day, in response to SoSoValue knowledge.
Bitcoin dropped from roughly $82,000 to round $77,000 over the identical interval, whereas the full crypto market cap fell over $100 billion to $2.65 trillion.
Goldman’s quiet exit
Goldman Sachs’ Q1 2026 13F submitting revealed an entire exit from XRP and Solana ETF positions, down from roughly $154 million in XRP ETF publicity on the finish of This autumn 2025.
The financial institution had unfold that $154 million throughout 4 XRP merchandise from Bitwise, Franklin, Grayscale, and 21Shares, making it the biggest disclosed institutional investor in spot XRP ETFs on the time.
Regardless of the exit, Goldman didn’t abandon crypto totally — the identical submitting exhibits the agency holding a number of iShares Ethereum Belief positions price a mixed roughly $177 million, plus lots of of hundreds of thousands in Bitcoin by way of the iShares Bitcoin Belief ETF.
The transfer displays a rotation out of newer altcoin ETPs and into crypto infrastructure performs like Circle, Coinbase, and Galaxy Digital.
What’s driving the outflows
Analysts level to 2 important catalysts behind the ETF outflows:
U.S. inflation knowledge that shifted expectations towards a Fed price hike, and renewed geopolitical nervousness tied to the U.S.-Iran battle.
Worry
The Bitcoin Worry and Greed Index has dropped to 25, signaling “Excessive Worry” amongst traders.
Regardless of the bearish sentiment, Illia Otychenko of CEX.IO famous that long-term holders “have continued accumulating BTC persistently for months,” which he mentioned is “limiting Bitcoin’s draw back potential” and displays “long-term conviction” regardless of short-term volatility.