Bitcoin ETFs Swallowed 79,800 BTC in Q3, Nearly Double What Miners Dug Up

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs piled on 79,800 BTC in the third quarter, nearly doubling the 41,300 BTC miners pulled out of the ground over the same stretch. Do the math and the funds absorbed 38,500 BTC more than was newly created. It's a flip from Q2, when those same U.S. spot funds bled $4.76 billion in net outflows.

The buying wasn't steady. Two windows did almost all the work: Aug. 17-27 and Sept. 21-25 combined for 91% of the quarter's inflows measured in BTC. The other weeks were a snooze by comparison.

Long-term holder wallets, tracked as coins that haven't moved in more than 155 days, shrank by 248,000 BTC, worth $17.4 billion. That's roughly three times what ETFs added. The decline alone doesn't prove where those coins went or what they were used for.

Bitcoin treasury companies kept buying, just not at the same clip. They added 12,000 BTC in Q3, about $1 billion, versus $7.1 billion in Q2. Dollar figures reflect prices on the dates the flows happened, and this is a separate demand lane from ETF purchases.

Bitcoin itself climbed 42.7% in the quarter, sitting at $83,570 as of Sept. 30. Even with long-term holders lightening up and corporate treasuries slowing down, ETF demand still ate through more than miners could mint.