Bitcoin ETF Demand Grows Among U.S. Investors as China Considers Massive $142B Capital Injection

Bitcoin (BTC) traded above $63,000 for the first half of the Asian trading hours on Thursday, down 1.4%, but up 2% on-week as inflows into BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remain positive.

Asian stocks surged higher amid reports that China is considering injecting up to 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) of capital into its biggest state banks to increase their capacity to support the struggling economy.

This follows an easing decision from earlier in the week that saw The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) cutting the reserve requirement ratio for mainland banks by 50 basis points (bps) while also lowering the seven-day reverse repo rate – the interest rate at which a central bank borrows funds from commercial banks – by 20 bps to 1.5%.

Data from SoSoValue shows that the total daily net inflow cracked $100 million for the second day in a row for the BTC ETFs. This marks a five-day streak of positive net inflow for the funds.

That has flipped an indicator tracking 30-day net holdings among ETFs to positive for the first time in September, data from CryptoQuant shows, suggesting a rising trend of accumulation as opposed to sales.

Meanwhile, ether (ETH) is trading above $2,500, down 1.3% on-day and up 8% for the week. Data shows that spot ETH ETFs had daily net inflow of $43 million, marking a second day of positive net inflow.

In a recent note, Presto Research wrote that rising Ethereum gas fees, driven by an increase in network transactions, have coincided with ETH outperforming BTC following the Fed’s 50 basis points rate cut.

While on-chain yields remain below the three-month treasury bill, some investors are positioning for a potential recovery in total value locked (TVL), Presto Write. However, a broader capital migration may not happen until 2025.

Sam Altman-backed WorldCoin’s WLD jumped 14% in the past 24 hours to become one of the only gainers in the broader crypto market. The company on Wednesday said it had begun its verification services in Poland, Malaysia and Guatemala over the past week – onboarding more users and boosting the project’s fundamentals.

The rise came amid an executive shuffle at OpenAI – another Altman company – and a switch in the company’s status from a nonprofit to a for-profit benefit corporation. WLD tokens have historically tended to move on development at OpenAI as crypto traders may consider the two closely related.