Markets Turn Lower Amid Fears of U.S. Government Sales

Crypto markets took a hit on Tuesday, erasing the previous day’s gains, after a large amount of Bitcoin was moved from wallets linked to the U.S. government.

Ethereum (ETH) dipped by 1% to $3,343, while Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 4% to $66,838. Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT) dropped 5% and 2%, respectively.

Cardano’s ADA lost 4% and XRP was down 2%, while DOGE and BNB both fell 5%.

On Monday, the U.S. Marshals Service transferred $2 billion worth of Bitcoin to two new wallets, according to data from Arkham Intelligence.

Arkham tweeted that one of these wallets might be connected to an institutional custodial service, fuelling sell-off fears among traders. The transfer happened shortly after Donald Trump’s promise at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville to establish a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile” if re-elected.

Pseudonymous crypto trader and analyst Skew said that the U.S. government moving assets to a new wallet is typically a precursor to OTC-related auctions. “Keeping an eye on this in case it has a real supply impact on price.”

In the past 24 hours, 42,008 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations amounting to $167.47 million, according to CoinGlass.

Ethereum ETFs Face Significant Outflows

On Monday, spot Ethereum ETFs continued to bleed, recording $98.3 million in outflows, as per Farside Investors data.

Michaël van de Poppe, CEO of MN Trading, believes that outflows from the Grayscale Ethereum Trust will continue.

“I expect another week of stagnant outflow to calm down once we reach $5-6B,” he said. “From there, it’s up only.”

Spot Ether ETFs had a rocky start in their first week of trading. They recorded a cumulative net outflow of $340 million, with more than $1.5 billion in net outflows from Grayscale’s ETHE.

Stock futures were relatively unchanged on Tuesday morning. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.05%, while S&P 500 futures slid 0.04% and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.02%.

The Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting is set to start on Tuesday. Traders will also be eyeing July’s jobs report, which is due on Friday