US spot bitcoin ETFs took in $170.09 million on August 4, with seven funds positive and none in redemption, Bitcoin.com News reported. The same day, Hashdex said its Hashdex Bitcoin ETF, ticker DEFI, will stop trading on August 17 and liquidate. It is the first closure of a US spot bitcoin fund.
BlackRock's IBIT did most of the lifting at $111.43 million, roughly two thirds of the day. Fidelity's FBTC added $33.36 million and Franklin Templeton's EZBC $9.23 million. Invesco, VanEck, Bitwise and Ark filled in the rest with between $2 million and $7 million each.
The inflow came four days after the complex closed July with a $61.5 million weekly outflow and its worst single session in months. Bitcoin ground back above $64,000, trading near $64,037 in Coin Gabbar's August 5 update, up about one percent over 24 hours.
A green day with the right shape
Single-day flow numbers call for caution, as we noted when the complex shed $265 million in one Friday session. ETF money moves fast in both directions, and one day shows capacity, not conviction. Still, breadth across seven issuers with zero redemptions differs from one large holder topping up IBIT while everyone else leaks.
The day carried $2.11 billion of trading volume, and the category's combined net assets stood at $77.58 billion. Ether ETFs gave back $11.42 million in the same session, a rare down day after four consecutive positive weeks. One session does not end that streak, and the weekly number will decide it. But bitcoin funds all green and ether funds red is the mirror image of most of July.
The macro backdrop stayed quiet. The total crypto market added 0.7 percent to about $2.27 trillion, the fear and greed index held at 27, still firmly in fear, and bitcoin dominance sat at 56.5 percent.
Washington supplied the tension instead. August 5 is the cloture deadline described in the Clarity Act's final-week piece, the last procedural gate that could force a Senate vote before the August 10 recess. Yahoo Finance's market wrap noted investors watching it, with passage before the break in doubt. Flows returned while the bill's window was closing, a reminder that the ETF bid does not need Congress.
Hashdex's DEFI becomes the first US spot bitcoin fund to liquidate
Hashdex cited its evaluation of assets under management, liquidity, operating costs and investor interest, CoinDesk reported. The fund held about $14.7 million, too little to sustain at ETF fee rates. CoinDesk added that incremental fund flows have chased AI-linked products all year, leaving subscale crypto funds to justify their shelf space or leave it.
The two stories fit together. A $170 million day and a fund closure both describe a maturing category: money concentrating in the few products with real liquidity while the long tail is culled. IBIT taking two thirds of a broad green day is the same force that makes a $14.7 million competitor unviable.
July set a record for the smallest monthly inflows since launch before a late rally saved the month. The wrapper won, and the open question is how many wrappers the market needs. For DEFI's remaining holders the mechanics are routine: shares trade until August 17, then the fund sells its bitcoin and pays out cash. The category's first liquidation is a milestone, and the market barely reacted to it.
Two checks follow. The next weekly flow total will show whether the ether streak survives, and August 17 is DEFI's last day of trading.
