## Bitcoin and Ether ETFs See $1.1B Inflows: Is the Coldcard Hack Fueling the Rally?

U.S. spot bitcoin and ether ETFs saw a combined **$1.1 billion in inflows** last week, marking the strongest week for either category since April, according to The Block's analysis of SoSoValue data.

### Bitcoin ETFs Lead the Charge

Spot bitcoin ETFs took in about **$853.5 million**, their largest weekly total since the week ending April 17, which saw $996.4 million in inflows. Notably, bitcoin ETFs recorded inflows in all five trading sessions, led by $244.4 million on Wednesday and $211.5 million on Tuesday.

**BlackRock's IBIT** accounted for a whopping **$693.7 million** of the total BTC fund inflows, representing over 80% of the total. Fidelity's FBTC followed with $116.4 million, making the two largest bitcoin funds the primary beneficiaries.

### The Coldcard Exploit Connection

Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, pointed out that **IBIT, FBTC, and several other funds have drawn inflows every day since the Coldcard hack**, making it "hard not to see causation in the correlation." He mused that it would be "ironic, but somehow on brand, if the hack of btc in cold storage (seemingly worst [possible] situation) marked the beginning of next run."

The exploit, which surfaced July 30, has led to at least **$111 million in thefts**, with estimated losses potentially exceeding $130 million. The hack drove record inflows to centralized exchanges and triggered a panic onchain, with about **890,000 BTC moving** over seven days, a 2026 high.

However, the Coldcard narrative is complicated by the fact that **ether ETFs also posted their best week since April**, despite ether holders having no exposure to a Bitcoin-only hardware wallet vulnerability. The inflow run for ether ETFs began on Aug. 3, several days after the vulnerability was disclosed.

Bitcoin rose about 3% on the week, touching an August high above $65,300 on Friday following a massive U.S. jobs miss, which traders interpreted as reducing the likelihood of a September rate hike.

### Ether Funds Extend Positive Run to Five Weeks

Spot ether ETFs have now logged **five consecutive positive weeks**, their longest run of 2026. Thursday produced the largest daily gain at $92.2 million, while Monday's $11.4 million outflow was the only negative session.

The funds held **$10.74 billion in net assets** Friday against $11.46 billion in cumulative net inflows, leaving them about $711 million underwater on a mark-to-market basis. That gap has narrowed from roughly $2.0 billion in mid-June.

Meanwhile, **whales are aggressively accumulating ETH**, with wallets holding between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH increasing their balances to a record **19.6 million ETH** from about 14 million ETH in mid-2025, according to CryptoQuant.

### Volume Remains Near Multi-Year Lows

Despite the inflows, trading volume remains subdued. Bitcoin ETF trading volume totaled about **$8.19 billion** on the week, down 9% from the previous week's $9.02 billion. That's the second-lowest full trading week since October 2024. Ether ETF volume came to roughly $2.38 billion, down about 21% from the prior week.

![ETF volumes over time](https://www.tbstat.com/cdn-cgi/image/f=avif,q=50/wp/uploads/2026/08/theblock-spot-bitcoin-etf-volumes-1920x1080-1.png)

### 2026 Losses Persist

The rebound has not erased the funds' overall losses for 2026. Bitcoin ETFs remain at approximately **$4.44 billion in net outflows** since the start of the year, while ether ETFs are down roughly $873 million.

Bitcoin traded near $65,100 on Saturday morning, while ether changed hands around $1,920.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas tied the run to the Coldcard wallet exploit, noting several Bitcoin funds have drawn inflows daily since the hack. 

Bitcoin and Ether ETFs See $1.1B Inflows: Is the Coldcard Hack Fueling the Rally?

Bitcoin holders risk losing real BTC this weekend by trying to sell coins from a fork that may not even be worth anything.

Here is how it goes. Bitcoin may split into two chains in the next few days. If it does, everyone who holds bitcoin ends up holding the same balance twice, once on each chain. Then someone offers to buy the *new* coins at an unusually good price. They look like free money, so selling them can seem like an easy win.

But take the deal and the buyer can take the seller's bitcoin too. Both chains initially accept identical transactions — so a transaction signed to send the fork coins can also be broadcast on bitcoin. The buyer receives the same amount in actual BTC at the same destination.

This is called a **replay attack**. The safest move for anyone who does not know how to separate the two balances is to leave the coins alone.

![How selling a fork coin can cost a holder real bitcoin. (Shaurya Malwa/CoinDesk)](https://www.coindesk.com/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2Fs3y3vcno%2Fproduction%2F2da89199523334d514ab6e45b1160524bf778557-1600x790.png%3Fauto%3Dformat&w=1920&q=75)

A replay does not drain the wallet. Only the coins put up for sale move, and they leave as real bitcoin rather than the fork version, with a transaction fee paid on both chains.

Bitcoin developer **Kevin Loaec**, who flagged the risk on X this week, said large holders could be targeted first. Doing nothing will be a safer option, he stated, as coins that never move cannot be replayed because there is no signed transaction to copy.

## How BIP-110 Makes This Possible

The reason any of this is happening is a proposal called **BIP-110**, which would keep pictures, text and other non-payment data out of bitcoin transactions for a year.

Changing bitcoin's rules requires miners to agree, and they register that agreement by marking the blocks they produce. BIP-110 needs 1,109 marked blocks out of a 2,016-block stretch, or 55%. (A block is the batch of transactions miners add to the ledger roughly every ten minutes.)

That route is closed but the proposal has a second one written into it. From block 961,632, expected this weekend, computers running BIP-110 software will reject any block that does not carry the mark, whether miners agreed or not.

Almost every block being mined right now does not carry it. So those computers will start rejecting the chain that nearly all of bitcoin's mining power is building.

If some miners continue building a BIP-110-compatible branch while the rest keep mining bitcoin as usual, two competing versions of the transaction history could emerge. It stalls if nobody keeps extending the minority branch, it stalls.

Such an imbalance makes a split possible rather than certain. **Miner signalling is running near 2.6%** as on Friday, trackers show. That node share does not translate into mining power, however, as with signalling this low, a minority branch could produce blocks very slowly or stop advancing altogether.

As such, if one does emerge, every bitcoin holder initially has the same balance on both chains. The second copy may be worth little or nothing, and somebody may still offer to buy it.

Separating the two balances is harder at first because the fork provides no automatic replay protection. BIP-110's actual restrictions on transaction data do not switch on until block 965,664, expected around the start of September.

Before then, holders would need to deliberately create coins that exist on only one branch before spending safely.

Timing depends on how quickly blocks are found, so the mandatory-signalling window could begin a day earlier or later than current estimates.

If a minority chain appears this weekend, buyers could replay signed fork-coin sales on bitcoin itself, making doing nothing the safest move until the chains can be separated.

Bitcoin Holders Beware: Selling Forked Coins from BIP-110 Could Cost You Real BTC

The recent Coldcard security breach is now visible on the blockchain, with a significant movement of bitcoin from long-term holder wallets. According to Glassnode data, **roughly 210,000 BTC** have left long-term holder (LTH) wallets in the past week, marking the largest decline since December 2024. This shift is not typical profit-taking but rather a **migration in custody** following the Coldcard incident.

Long-term holders are entities that have held coins for over 155 days, often considered the market's "smart money." Their supply has dropped from nearly 15 million BTC to approximately 14.7 million BTC, a notable decrease.

Historically, such distribution waves have occurred near market peaks, but this time it's happening with bitcoin trading around $64,000, **50% below its all-time high**. This suggests the movement is not selling but a response to the security breach, where users are moving funds to newly generated wallets or regulated custody services.

The Coldcard exploit, caused by weak randomness in firmware, allowed attackers to reconstruct recovery phrases and drain funds, with losses up to $114 million. Coldcard urged affected users to generate new wallets, as updating firmware couldn't secure compromised keys.

This on-chain movement doesn't necessarily mean loss of conviction. Instead, it reflects a broader shift in how bitcoin is stored, possibly boosting demand for **regulated custodians** and **spot bitcoin ETFs**. Indeed, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw inflows of approximately $754 million last week, led by BlackRock's IBIT.

In summary, the decline in LTH supply is a custody migration, not a sell-off, and the market's resilience post-hack indicates underlying strength.

Roughly 200,000 bitcoin have moved from long-term holder wallets in the past week, suggesting a possible shift in custody rather than conventional selling

Coldcard Fallout On-Chain: 210,000 BTC Exodus from Long-Term Wallets Signals Custody Shift

## NODE's July 2026 Performance: A Tale of Two Markets

In July 2026, the **VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE)** experienced a **-13.5% decline**, as **bitcoin miners and AI-infrastructure equities** faced a sell-off driven by **rising long-end rates** and **AI-financing strains**. Meanwhile, **spot cryptocurrencies** moved in the opposite direction, with **bitcoin up 7.3%** and **ethereum up 18.2%**. This divergence between tokens and equities was stark, highlighting the unique risk profile of crypto-related stocks.

## Why Did NODE Fall?

The primary drivers of NODE's decline were **macroeconomic factors** affecting high-beta tech and crypto-exposed equities. **Rising long-term interest rates** pressured valuations, while concerns about **AI infrastructure financing** led to a broader sell-off in that sector. As a result, the fund's holdings in miners like **TeraWulf (WULF)** and **IREN**, as well as AI-focused companies like **Applied Digital (APLD)**, suffered significant losses.

## NODE vs. Bitcoin: A Cumulative Lead

Despite the monthly underperformance, NODE has maintained a **cumulative lead over bitcoin exceeding 80 percentage points** since its inception in May 2025. However, it's important to note that NODE does not hold bitcoin or ether directly; it invests in **equities and digital-asset ETPs**, offering a different risk-return profile. A direct comparison to a single crypto asset is not appropriate.

## High Volatility: The Nature of the Beast

Crypto mining and AI-infrastructure stocks are known for their **high beta** to both crypto prices and interest rate expectations. In July, NODE exhibited **68.9% annualized volatility** and an **18.3% peak-to-trough drawdown**, with only **9 of 22 trading days** ending positive. This volatility is a key consideration for investors, who must be prepared for significant price swings.

## Our Response: Adding to Conviction

Despite the sell-off, we chose to **add to our conviction names** rather than de-risk. This decision was based on our belief that the fundamental drivers of the onchain economy and AI infrastructure remain intact. We view the July decline as a **market correction** rather than a structural change, and we are confident in the long-term growth prospects of our holdings.

## Portfolio Positioning and Key Holdings

As of July 31, 2026, NODE's top holdings included **spot bitcoin ETP (10.50%)**, **TeraWulf (6.05%)**, **IREN (4.62%)**, **Figure Technology Solutions (4.11%)**, and **Applied Digital (3.84%)**. We also exited our position in **Sea Ltd (SE)** during the month. These weightings reflect our strategic focus on companies that are poised to benefit from the convergence of crypto and AI.

## Looking Ahead: Staying the Course

We remain committed to our investment approach, which emphasizes **long-term value creation** in the onchain economy. While short-term volatility is inevitable, we believe that the companies in our portfolio are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing adoption of digital assets and AI technologies. We will continue to monitor market conditions and adjust our holdings as necessary to maximize returns for our investors.

NODE fell 13.5% in July as AI infrastructure sold off. Why we added to conviction names instead of de-risking.

VanEck's NODE ETF: Why We Bought the Dip in AI and Crypto Miners

The U.S. Senate's failure to pass the Clarity Act has left **XRP** at a critical juncture, with the cryptocurrency feeling the impact more acutely than the broader market. This legislative setback has introduced a fresh wave of **uncertainty** for XRP, which has been seeking regulatory clarity to solidify its position.

## The Clarity Act and Its Implications

The Clarity Act was seen as a potential game-changer for the crypto industry, aiming to provide clear regulatory guidelines. For **XRP**, which has been embroiled in legal battles with the SEC, the act represented a beacon of hope. Its failure means the regulatory landscape remains murky, and XRP's path to mainstream adoption is now less certain.

## Market Reaction

While the entire crypto market is sensitive to regulatory news, **XRP** has shown a more pronounced negative reaction. This is likely due to its unique position, having faced direct legal challenges. Investors are now weighing the risks of holding XRP without clear regulatory protection, leading to increased **volatility** and selling pressure.

## What's Next for XRP?

Despite the setback, XRP's underlying technology and use case remain strong. The **Ripple** network continues to facilitate cross-border transactions efficiently. However, the lack of regulatory clarity could hinder its growth in the short term. Investors are advised to keep a close watch on any future legislative developments and the ongoing SEC lawsuit, as these will be pivotal in determining XRP's trajectory.

## Conclusion

In summary, the Senate's punt on the Clarity Act has placed **XRP** at a crossroads. The coming months will be crucial as the market reacts to this legislative uncertainty. While the long-term outlook for XRP remains promising, the immediate future is clouded by regulatory ambiguity.

XRP is taking the Clarity Act news harder than the rest of the crypto market. Here's why.

Bitcoin Articles Published Yesterday

Bitcoin Articles Published 2 days ago