The second quarter proved to be a true test for investors, as Bitcoin-backed exchange-traded funds recorded a record capital outflow of nearly five billion dollars, with four billion leaving just in June. The IBIT fund from the giant BlackRock led the outflow, largely driven by the reallocation of funds into the promising artificial intelligence sector and the anticipation of SpaceX's loud initial public offering. Against this backdrop, the first cryptocurrency lost about fourteen percent of its value, dropping below sixty thousand dollars and demonstrating a third consecutive quarterly loss, which clearly signals a declining appetite for risk assets.

However, against the backdrop of Bitcoin's troubles, an even more alarming situation has unfolded in the two-trillion-dollar private credit market, where investors requested the redemption of their shares for a colossal sum of fifteen and a half billion dollars. Due to built-in restrictions, many business development companies were only able to satisfy a portion of the applications, as redemption requests in ten out of sixteen funds exceeded the standard quarterly limit of five percent. The rating agency Fitch warns that the average volume of requests continues to grow, while the inflow of new funds has critically declined, guaranteeing continued high pressure on liquidity and payout queues in the coming quarters.

Parallel processes of exiting completely different instruments in structure – liquid exchange-traded ETFs and closed private credit funds – indicate a fundamental shift in investor sentiment and their growing caution. Analysts at the Singaporean company QCP Capital draw attention to the global depletion of financial and physical reserves: the US strategic petroleum reserve has fallen to its lowest levels since 1983, and corporate players are selling off Bitcoin for the first time to cover dividend obligations. This alarming picture of liquidity shortage creates an extremely complex environment for trading risk assets, where the absence of traditional safety cushions multiplies the vulnerability of markets to any macroeconomic shocks.

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The material is prepared solely for informational purposes and does not constitute a financial advice or recommendation.