The Great Crypto Rollercoaster: Dollars, Data, and Digital Disappointments

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Last week, crypto inflows decided to take a little nap at a modest $223 million, having flirted quite dramatically with the idea of hitting a cool $1 billion earlier—like a teenager dreaming of a sports car. Instead, reality and a series of economic embarrassments curbed that ambition faster than you can say “Pump and Dump.”

Apparently, our dear US economy threw a few curveballs—a bunch of signals, FOMC meetings, and macro data, all coming in surprisingly better than expected, which in crypto land, usually means “Uh-oh, maybe don’t get too excited just yet.”

Crypto Inflows Near $1 Billion but Macro Data Reverses Trend to $223 Million

Picture this: CoinShares reports crypto inflows hitting a promising $883 million early in the week, like a kid inching toward a cookie jar filled with aspirations of nearly a billion bucks. But then, in a twist only the markets can manage, the FOMC meeting on Wednesday caused a sudden “Nope!”—and inflows shrank faster than a snowman in July, settling at a meager $223 million.

James Butterfill, the head researcher at CoinShares (yes, the grown-up making sense of this chaos), blames the retreat on last week’s flood of “US macro signals,” which, as he describes, “soured the mood,” perhaps with a dash of hawkish FOMC and other fancy economic jargon. Basically, the good news turned out to be bad news for crypto investors.

US job cut announcements jumped +140% YoY in July, to 62,075, well above the 4-year average.

This is more than double the average July job cut number of 23,584 between 2021 and 2024.

Year-to-date, US-based employers have announced 806,383 job cuts, the highest total… — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) August 1, 2025

Brace yourself for risk aversion—because when the jobs go south, everyone panics, and crypto money flows out faster than you can say “flight to safety.” On Friday, alone, $1 billion fled the scene, spurred on by paystub reports and snippets from BeInCrypto, which perhaps exaggerated the employment turmoil to spice things up.

However, Butterfill gently suggests that some of the outflow might be just savvy investors cashing in on the recent rally—like taking a quick profit before the market plays hard to get again.

“Given we have seen $12.2 billion net inflows over the last 30 days representing 50% of inflows for the year so far, it is perhaps understandable to see what we believe to be minor profit taking,” wrote Butterfill.

Compared to the week ending July 26, when crypto inflows flirted with almost $2 billion—yes, billion with a B—this current dip feels like a whoopee cushion. Ethereum was the belle of the ball, outperforming Bitcoin, which decided to throw a few tantrums and send $404 million worth of crypto packing.

Ethereum Rides Higher While Bitcoin Takes a Bashful Step Back

Ethereum, the ever-faithful understudy, managed $133.9 million in positive flows—like a diligent student following its big sibling Bitcoin, which dumped more than twice that—big outflows of $404 million, to be exact. Solana and XRP tried to look cheerful with $8.8 million and $31.3 million in the green, but Bitcoin’s mood was rather sour, heading south faster than you can say “market correction.”

QCP Capital’s analysts, probably sipping coffee and frowning thoughtfully, point out Bitcoin’s third Friday sell-off in a row, attributing the misery to a cocktail of “weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs” and some new tariffs spelling trouble—surely the economic equivalent of pointing at the sky and saying “look out!”

“… [ this was] driven by a confluence of factors: a weaker than expected US jobs report and a fresh round of tariffs from Washington,” wrote analysts at QCP Capital.

So, what’s the takeaway? Investors are probably recalibrating, adjusting expectations like a GPS trying to find the nearest liquidity. The hope, or at least the faint idea, is that this lull isn’t the end, but maybe just a pause before the next cryptofest—think of it as a temporary hiccup before the market comes roaring back, hopefully with fewer surprises and more champagne to go around.

“…despite the pullback, the broader structural setup remains intact,” the analysts added.

In the end, this slight market shiver might be nothing more than a shakeout—a way to clear the excess leverage, like sifting through last night’s party leftovers, setting the scene for a renewable rally and, fingers crossed, fewer drama queens.

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2025-08-04 12:57