Bitcoin and the aggregate crypto market are treading firmly in the bullish territory — and big-money investors have increased their allocation accordingly. According to the latest CoinShares report, cryptocurrency funds attracted close to $1.5 billion in inflows last week following the debut of the first Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the United States.

Institutional Investors Pile Into Bitcoin

On Monday, CoinShares reported that the crypto market witnessed a staggering $1.47 billion of new money flow into cryptocurrency funds, the highest level on record. The last weekly record was set in February this year when inflows reached $640 million. Last week’s inflows catapulted the year-to-date total to $8 billion.

The report indicates that the dramatic increase in inflows in the past week was tied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission authorizing two Bitcoin ETFs. “This is a direct result of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) allowing a bitcoin ETF investing in futures and the consequent listing of two bitcoin investment products,” the report by the European digital asset manager said.

Suffice to say, the SEC fueled a wave of exuberance in the crypto world last week after approving the first Bitcoin futures ETF which sent the price of the benchmark cryptocurrency to a new record high near $67,000. In particular, Wall Street opened its doors for ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF on October 19 and Valkyrie Investments’ Bitcoin futures ETF just days later. These events have been hailed as breakthrough moments in cryptocurrency history. 

ProShares alone brought a whopping $1.2 billion to the cryptocurrency market in the past week, according to CoinShares. The ETC Group came in second with $111 million. 

Overall, the majority of institutional managers poured their money into Bitcoin-centric investment products, with these products representing 99% of total weekly inflows into crypto funds.

Demand For Ether Flattens As Investors Turn To Solana, Cardano

As bitcoin continues attracting the attention of institutional money, some altcoins are seeing investors offloading exposure. The world’s second-biggest crypto Ethereum, for instance, has registered a dwindling institutional appetite for the third consecutive week.

CoinShares noted that outflows from ethereum-based funds amounted to $1.4 million last week. This is being attributed to investors taking some profits as the underlying cryptocurrency’s price raced to all-time highs.

While money moved out from Ethereum, products tracking other altcoins have generated inflows, with Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Binance Coin (BNB) posting inflows of $8.1 million, $5.3 million, and $1.8 million respectively. 

In total, the altcoin market attracted $15 million worth of inflows, which pales in comparison to Bitcoin’s institutional inflows.