Today in Crypto: Crypto funds reversed course last week, with outflows led by Bitcoin and Ether as bearish sentiment outweighed inflows into altcoins, the crypto market shaved $100 billion amid geopolitical turmoil, and Foundry USA has curtailed its hashrate by 60% as a winter storm batters parts of the US.
Crypto funds see $1.7 billion outflows, biggest since November 2025
Crypto investment products reversed course last week from solid inflows to one of the largest outflow weeks on record amid persistent bearish market sentiment.
Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) saw $1.73 billion of outflows during the week, the biggest since mid-November 2025, CoinShares reported on Monday.
“Dwindling expectations for interest rate cuts, negative price momentum and disappointment that digital assets have not participated in the debasement trade yet have likely fuelled these outflows,” said CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill.
The latest outflows highlight the market’s sideways trading, following the prior week’s $2.2 billion of inflows.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) led outflows from crypto funds last week, with withdrawals of about $1.09 billion and $630 million, respectively.
While the outflows reflected broad negative sentiment across the market, some altcoins bucked the trend. XRP (XRP) and Sui (SUI) saw outflows of $18.2 million and $6 million, while Solana (SOL) recorded inflows of $17.1 million.
Chainlink (LINK) funds also saw minor inflows at $3.8 million, according to CoinShares data.
Short-Bitcoin ETPs saw $500,000 inflows, contradicting the negative market sentiment. “Regardless, it indicates sentiment has still not improved since Oct. 10, 2025 price crash,” CoinShares’ Butterfill noted.
Crypto shaves $100 billion as geopolitical turmoil mounts
Around $100 billion was wiped from the crypto market late on Sunday as geopolitical uncertainty and fears of another potential partial US government shutdown caused traders to sell off.
Senate Democrat Leader Chuck Schumer threatened to block a funding package if it included money for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after federal agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Saturday.
Adding to traders’ fear was US President Donald Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on Canada to 100% if the country strikes a deal with China, and the US military deploying warships to the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran.
The crypto market cap dropped from $2.97 trillion to $2.87 trillion in six and a half hours by Sunday at 9:30 pm UTC, pushing Bitcoin (BTC) down 3.4% over the last 24 hours. Altcoins were hit even harder, with Ether (ETH) down 5.3% in the last day.
Odds on Kalshi of a government shutdown by Jan. 31 surged from below 10% on Saturday to 78.6% on Sunday, while Polymarket’s odds showed a similar surge to 80%.
Foundry USA hashrate down 60% as miners adjust to deadly winter storm
The hashrate of Foundry USA, the world’s largest Bitcoin (BTC) mining pool by total hashing power, has curtailed its hashrate by about 60% since Friday, as winter storm Fern impacts multiple regions across the United States.
“Bitcoin hashrate on Foundry USA alone is down by nearly 200 exahashes per second (EH/s), or 60%, since Friday amid continued curtailment. Temporary block production has slowed down to 12 minutes,” according to TheMinerMag.
Foundry USA’s hashrate clocks in at about 198 (EH/s), accounting for about 23% of the global mining pool hashrate, and still commands a lead over its biggest competitor, AntPool, which controls about 16% of hashing power, data from Hashrate Index shows.
Winter storm Fern has already left about 1 million residents without electricity, according to The Weather Channel, as it forces US-based miners to curtail their energy usage in response to peak demand and major stress on the public electrical grid.
