After Bitcoin fell below $62,000, the market attributed some of the pressure to Michael Thaler's sale of 32 Bitcoins. Foreign media commentators argued that this explanation was too superficial. Peter Schiff's latest statement has shifted the focus back to a larger variable: the institutional funds that previously drove Bitcoin's rise are now amplifying the pullback.
Schiff attributed both price fluctuations to institutional buying and selling.
Schiff stated on X that what truly propelled Bitcoin to its current high level was not short-term sentiment, but rather the continuous buying by Strategy and a group of companies emulating his "Bitcoin Treasury" model. According to him, Strategy has cumulatively purchased over 840,000 Bitcoins, and this concentrated allocation itself altered market pricing.
He believes the market shouldn't just focus on the 32 bitcoins Thaler sold this time. More important is how institutional buying previously drove up the price, and how the price will fall back when that buying weakens or withdraws.
Continuous outflows from ETFs have become a more direct source of pressure.
The article mentions that Bitcoin is currently trading at $60,717, a daily drop of approximately 5.47%, nearing a four-month low. More direct pressure than individual sell orders comes from the continued outflow of funds from US spot Bitcoin ETFs.
- The US spot Bitcoin ETF has seen net outflows for 13 consecutive trading days.
- Since May 14, a total of approximately $4.33 billion has flowed out.
- Since 2026, ETF fund flows have turned negative.
This means that institutional demand that supported the market at the beginning of the year is weakening. In contrast to the large influx of funds into the Bitcoin market via ETFs previously, the current continuous outflows are having a negative impact on price performance.
Thaler says funding is shifting towards AI development.
Thaler himself also responded to this pullback on X. He stated that the capital markets have been funding AI infrastructure construction at an unprecedented scale over the past six months, amounting to approximately $400 billion. Meanwhile, since May 14th, Bitcoin ETFs have seen outflows of approximately $4 billion, putting pressure on BTC.
However, Thaler does not believe this represents institutions abandoning Bitcoin. His assessment is that it's more like a temporary shift in funding, with some institutional funds temporarily moving into AI investments, rather than a sign of damage to Bitcoin's fundamentals.
The disagreement lies in whether the funds will flow back.
Judging from their statements, Schiff and Thaler, despite their opposing positions, both pointed to the same reason: institutional fund flows are dominating Bitcoin's price fluctuations.
The main difference between the two lies in their subsequent assessments. Schiff views this pullback as a natural consequence of institutional funds withdrawing, believing that the price previously driven up by concentrated buying will also come under pressure due to the departure of funds. Thaler, on the other hand, believes that the current outflow is more of a short-term allocation adjustment, and that funds may return to the Bitcoin market once the AI investment peak has passed.
