Bitcoin remains under pressure as ETF outflows, higher oil prices weigh on crypto markets

Bitcoin BTC$71,694.71 and most major cryptocurrencies remained under pressure as record outflows from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, renewed inflation worries from higher oil prices and weakening retail demand kept digital assets from joining Wall Street’s AI-led rally.

BTC is down about 1.4% in the last 24 hours and was trading recently under $73,000, while ether dropped 2.1% to $1,980. The broader CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index fell 2.38%.

The weakness follows a 10-session, $2.97 billion outflow streak from U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, the longest run of withdrawals on record, which included the rapid exit of a $1.2 billion position.

The crypto market “sold off through last week without a clear catalyst,” according to a note from Laser Digital’s derivatives trading desk. “There seemed to have been a lack of demand, including Strategy announcing that they didn’t purchase any BTC.

“With STRC still trading below par and the continued lack of interest from retail buyers, BTC is expected to remain weak for the time being,” the note said.

That leaves crypto at risk of further underperformance versus equities, where enthusiasm around artificial intelligence has pushed global stock indexes to fresh highs even as oil prices climbed on stalled efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

• Aave overhauls listing standards after $230 million rsETH exploit exposed bridge risks (CoinDesk): Aave said it will review every asset listed on V3 and rewrite its listing standards after April’s $230 restaked ETH exploit exposed a new class of DeFi risk.
• Whitehat developer unlocks $2 million stuck in a 2016 Ethereum ICO contract for nine years (CoinDesk): A security researcher who goes by 0xflorent worked with the team behind a 2016 Ethereum (ETH) ICO contract to unlock about $2 million in ether that had been trapped for nine years.
• Oil rises as US, Iran trade strikes, Israel moves further into Lebanon (Reuters): Oil prices rose more than ​3% on Monday after Iran and the U.S. traded strikes and Israel ordered troops to move further into Lebanon in ‌its battle with Tehran-backed Hezbollah.
• Citi predicts the tokenized securities market will grow to $5.5 trillion by 2030 (Coindesk): Citi’s new report, Tokenization 2030: Wall Street On-Chain, predicts the tokenized securities market will increase from $17 billion today to $5.5 trillion by 2030 in its base forecast. Its bullish forecast is for as much as $8.2 trillion.

Hyperliquid’s hype (HYPE) token continues to strengthen against Solana’s sol (SOL), hitting record highs.

Still, weakening RSI momentum in the ratio between the two tokens is producing a bearish divergence on the daily chart that could signal a near-term slowdown or shallow pullback.

If it does occur, it’s unlikely to mark a structural break in HYPE’s outperformance trend because there’s no confirmation of the divergence on the weekly chart.