Bitcoin ETFs Bleed $643 Million in First Session After Record Binance Hack

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs shed $643.2 million on Friday, their biggest single-day outflow of October, in the funds' first full trading session after attackers drained roughly $6.4 billion from Binance. The figure comes from Decrypt's ETF tracker and marks the first real read on how ETF investors would respond to the largest crypto hack in history.

The theft began at 4:05 p.m. ET Thursday, after U.S. markets had closed. Thursday's $17.2 million in inflows predated the incident, so Friday was the clean test. It came back red.

The selling wiped out a four-day, $441 million inflow run. The funds finished down about $202 million for the week and roughly $516 million for October. Cumulative net inflows since launch slipped to $57.4 billion, with total net assets at $103.2 billion.

How did the altcoin ETFs fare?

Ethereum and Solana funds fared worse relative to their size. Ethereum ETFs lost $155.7 million on Friday, stretching a five-day outflow streak to about $431 million and pushing October losses to roughly $1.61 billion. Solana ETFs shed $10.8 million — their fifth straight day of outflows — totaling about $72 million for the week. Solana funds have logged net inflows on just two days all month.

Spot crypto ETFs hold the underlying asset, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, and trade on stock exchanges like ordinary shares, so investors get exposure through a regular brokerage account. Bitcoin funds have drawn $57.4 billion in net inflows since debuting in January 2024; Ethereum funds have taken in $12.2 billion since launching that July. Because issuers report flows daily and much of the money comes from institutions and financial advisers, the numbers have become a closely watched gauge of sentiment.

What did the hack do to markets?

Crypto prices took the breach largely in stride, considering the scale. Bitcoin fell about 4% to roughly $76,400 on Friday, and more than $1.3 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated. That's a sharp drop but far smaller than the nearly 11% plunge that followed a failed attack on Binance in 2018.

Binance has pledged to cover all losses with company funds and an emergency reserve. Tether and Circle froze more than $2.3 billion in stolen stablecoins. Some Wall Street firms even urged clients to buy crypto-linked stocks on the potential weakness.

By Saturday, Bitcoin had steadied near $77,520 — up 0.5% over 24 hours but down 3.3% for the week. Ethereum traded near $2,251, down 3.9% on the week, and Solana sat near $96, down 4.5%. Total crypto market capitalization held at about $2.7 trillion.

What's next for rates and sentiment?

Macro headwinds haven't gone anywhere. The Federal Reserve held rates at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday, but two officials voted for a hike, and traders had priced odds above 70% for an increase in December.

Traders on Myriad, a prediction market developed by Decrypt's parent company Dastan, have turned bearish on the altcoins. They now give Ethereum a 51.3% chance of falling to $1,500 before reaching $3,000, flipping a market that favored the upside at 61.3% a week ago. Solana's odds of sinking to $40 before hitting $160 rose to 53.7%.

Whether the ETF outflows persist into next week — or prove a one-session reaction to a one-day shock — will show whether institutional appetite can absorb the aftershock of the industry's largest-ever theft.