The minor fish might be responding to overall market sell-off, however, institutional crypto stakeholders have taken a different approach, investing hundreds of millions into digital asset funds last week.
As per a CoinShares report, digital asset investment products recorded inflows reaching $308M, overshadowing the $576M outflows on December 19 (the highest single-day outflow). In total, outflows during the last 48 hours of the past week amounted to $1B.
“While these outflows may seem concerning, they represent only 0.37% of total AuM (assets under management), ranking as the 13th largest single-day outflow in history,” the report states. “The largest single-day outflow occurred in mid-2022 when the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) raised interest rates, resulting in $540M outflows (2.3% of AuM.)”
Price adjustments, conversely, caused a $17.7B drop in total AuM for digital asset exchange-traded products (ETPs), which CoinShares attributes to market reactions to economic forecasts disclosed by the FOMC on December 18. The US economy is predicted to expand by 2.5% this year and by 2.1% in 2025.
Institutional Crypto Investors Favor $BTC and $ETH
CoinShares further notes that multi-asset investment products experienced the most notable outflows during the same timeframe, totaling $121M last week.
Conversely, Bitcoin ($BTC) witnessed $375M in net inflows, in contrast to Ethereum’s ($ETH) $51M. Major investors significantly contributed to the $ETH inflows over the last few days, acquiring more than $1B (340K $ETH) despite $ETH’s present correction phase.
At the same time, Binance declares that $ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced net inflows of $62.73M between December 16 and December 20. This brings the cumulative historical net inflow of $ETH ETFs to a total of $2.328B, with an overall net asset value of $12.155B.
Whale Activity to Boost Meme Coin Crypto Prices
$ETH is not the sole token drawing major investors. Despite the recent downturn, Dogecoin ($DOGE) has also experienced heightened whale activity, with two recent transactions amounting to $23.5M and $34M respectively.
Usually, whale inflows indicate investor confidence and can precede a crypto rally, suggesting that market sentiment is about to shift.
This is particularly promising for new meme coin entrants, such as the recently launched Pepe Unchained ($PEPU) and Crypto All-Stars ($STARS), alongside Wall Street Pepe ($WEPE), currently available for presale.
Wall Street Pepe holds a personal grudge against whales engaging in insider trading groups. Thus, he is gathering a coalition of retail investors. By sharing his trading expertise and market knowledge with them, he aims to transform those small players into whales themselves. This clear and relatable goal positions $WEPE as one of the top meme coins this December.
In spite of a general market downturn, investors have been gravitating towards the $WEPE presale. Since its launch just 21 days ago, $WEPE has raised over $35M, including $1.67M in the past 24 hours. This also prompts the question: could $WEPE be the token that topples $PEPE?
Time for Retail Investors to Take the Lead
The current price of $WEPE, at $0.000365, is expected to rise today. Even so, it presents a significant early-investor opportunity—and a chance to back $WEPE’s mission to level the playing field for retail and institutional crypto investors.
However, take a moment to DYOR; this article should not be considered financial advice. For more information, visit the official website, read the $WEPE whitepaper, and check out the X channel.