Donald Trump’s 401(k) executive order sparks $1.57 billion crypto ETP recovery

Digital asset exchange-traded products (ETPs) staged a sharp turnaround last week, securing approximately $572 million in net inflows, according to CoinShares’ latest report.

The rebound came after the market initially suffered $1 billion in outflows earlier in the week, which CoinShares linked to weak US payroll data. Later, a surge of $1.57 billion in inflows erased the losses, pushing the week into positive territory.

James Butterfill, Head of Research at CoinShares, attributed the shift to a significant policy development in the United States. On Aug. 7, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Labor to enable crypto, private equity, and other alternative assets in 401(k) retirement plans.

Despite the strong inflows, Butterfill noted that trading volumes for digital asset ETPs were still 23% lower than the previous month, a slowdown he linked to the quieter summer period.

Ethereum inflows outpace Bitcoin

According to the CoinShares report, Ethereum ETPs continued to dominate, with $268 million in inflows—the highest of any asset last week.

This pushed Ethereum’s year-to-date inflows to a record-breaking $8.2 billion, a significant milestone that helped drive its assets under management (AuM) up by 82% to an all-time high of $32.6 billion.

The milestone comes as ETH crosses the $4,000 mark, with the market anticipating further upside above $5,000 before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin posted a strong recovery of $206 million in inflows last week after two consecutive outflows.

As a result, BTC-focused funds have attracted over $20 billion in fresh capital this year, led by BlackRock’s IBIT, which has received over $26 billion in inflows.

XRP and Solana inflows reach record $2 billion

XRP and Solana continue to draw significant institutional investors outside of the two dominant digital assets.

Last week, Solana registered $21.8 million in inflows, while XRP and NEAR attracted $18.4 million and $10.1 million, respectively.

This fresh wave of capital has helped push XRP-focused funds inflow to a record high of $1.1 billion, while Solana funds have seen $874 million in inflows.

Across regions, the US led global inflows with $608 million, followed by Canada at $16.5 million and Australia at $7.9 million. Hong Kong and Switzerland also posted modest gains of $1.4 million and $1.1 million, respectively.

In contrast, European markets remained under pressure, with Germany and Sweden posting combined outflows of $50 million.