Money held in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) fell last month, but is still up 77% so far this year, Fineqia International Inc (CSE:FNQ, OTC:FNQQF) revealed in its monthly sector report.
Total assets under management in digital asset exchange-traded products (ETPs) stood at $87.9 billion at the end of June, up from $49.5 billion at the start of the year but down 8% over June, having increased 18% to an all-time high of $95.4 billion in May.
The total number of ETPs stood at 194 at the end of the month, an increase of 20% so far this year.
The market cap of the ETPs declined 9.1% to $2.43 trillion, and for the whole of the second quarter decreased by 6.9% from $94.4 billion at the end of March, but for the year is still up 37.3%.
Finequia noted that the growth in AUM has outpaced the increase in the value of underlying digital assets by 108% so far this year, persisting in the second quarter despite a market downturn, after a strong first three months of the year.
In Q2, the AUM of ETPs holding digital assets decreased by 6.9%, while the total market cap of digital assets dropped by 13.7%
This premium is largely attributed to the approval of bitcoin (BTC) spot ETFs, which began trading in January.
Investors and other market participants are expecting the imminent launch of Ethereum (ETH) spot ETFs in July, as asset management companies await final approval from regulators, which could lead to further net inflows and broader adoption of altcoins in financial products.
"Ethereum backed ETFs will further legitimize digital assets as an institutional grade investment class," said Fineqia's CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. "BTC Spot ETFs cracked open the door, and ETH ETFs will swing it further."
In June, the bitcoin price decreased 8.4% to $61,850, with the AUM of ETPs with BTC as the underlying asset down 7.9% to $67.5 billion.
In Q2, the AUM for BTC ETPs decreased by 7.3%, while BTC's price dropped by 11.2% to $61,850.
Ethereum (ETH) saw a 9.9% decrease in value in June to $3,409. The AUM for ETH ETPs dropped by 8.2% to $14 billion. Over Q2, ETH's price decreased by 2.8%, and the AUM for ETH ETPs fell by 1.9%.
ETPs representing an index of alternative coins dropped by 10% in AUM during June to $3.23 billion, while diversified cryptocurrency ETPs decreased by 4.9% to $3.09 billion.