Crypto Currents: Bitcoin gives up 2025 gains

Crypto markets experienced a sharp selloff over the weekend, with bitcoin briefly erasing all of its gains for 2025. Despite the downturn, filings and reports show institutional players like Harvard, ARK Invest, and the Scaramucci family are actively increasing their exposure to the asset class. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with “Crypto Currents,” daily from The Fly. Join us at 2 PM ET for your essential briefing on the fast-moving world of cryptocurrency on FlyCast radio, Also, subscribe to our YouTube channel for the Crypto Fly By weekly recap.

MARKET GIVES UP 2025 GAINS AMID ETF OUTFLOWS: The cryptocurrency market is facing a significant correction, which some analysts are calling an emerging “mini” bear market. Over the weekend, bitcoin (BTC-USD) briefly erased all of its 2025 gains, falling to a low of $93,029, after starting the year at $93,507. According to Bloomberg, the selloff is being driven by a confluence of profit-taking, institutional disengagement, and broader macro uncertainty. This market weakness coincides with a third consecutive week of negative flows for U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs. Cointelegraph reports that the funds saw $1.1B in net negative outflows during the past trading week, marking their fourth-largest week of outflows on record.

HARVARD TRIPLES BITCOIN ETF STAKE: Despite the market downturn, Harvard University’s endowment fund significantly increased its exposure to bitcoin in Q3. A regulatory filing from Harvard Management Company, which manages the university’s $57B endowment, showed it boosted its investment in BlackRock’s (BLK) bitcoin ETF by over 250%. As of September 30, the endowment held 6.8M shares worth $442.8M. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas called the move “as good a validation as an ETF can get”.

ARK INVEST BUYS THE DIP ON CRYPTO-LINKED STOCKS: Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest has been actively purchasing crypto-linked equities as their prices fall. According to the firm’s daily trade disclosures, ARK ETFs bought a combined $5.83M worth of BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) shares and $2.91M in Bullish (BLSH) shares on Friday. This accumulation follows ARK’s purchases of $46M in Circle (CRCL) stock last week. The move shows continued conviction in BitMine, which recently appointed a new CEO as its treasury of ether (ETH-USD) grew to over $11B.

SCARAMUCCI FAMILY INVESTS IN TRUMP-LINKED MINER: The Scaramucci family has invested over $100M into American Bitcoin (ABTC), a mining firm connected to the sons of U.S. President Donald Trump. Fortune reports that the investment was led by AJ Scaramucci’s firm, Solari Capital, which fronted a $220M round in July. American Bitcoin, which was spun out from Hut 8 (HUT), went public via a reverse merger in September. Cointelegraph notes that other investors in the round reportedly included cardano (ADA-USD) founder Charles Hoskinson.

BINANCE ADDS BLACKROCK TOKENIZED FUND AS COLLATERAL: In another sign of traditional finance integration, crypto exchange Binance is adding BlackRock’s (BLK) tokenized money market fund as off-exchange collateral for institutional traders. The move allows institutions to earn yield on the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund while using it to support trading positions on the exchange. Tokenized U.S. Treasurys have become an $8.57B market. Data shows that the sector is led by BlackRock’s BUIDL, Circle’s (CRCL) USYC, and Franklin Templeton’s (BEN) BENJI token.

PRICE ACTION: As of time of writing, bitcoin was trading at $94,125.99, while ether was trading at $3,119.55, according to price data from CoinDesk.