Investing.com — ’s recent weakness has often been attributed to fears over quantum computing, but the sell-off mainly reflects a sharp slowdown in capital flows into the asset, according to analysts at Bernstein.
Net inflows into Bitcoin from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and treasury companies reached roughly $12 billion in 2026 year-to-date, compared with $60 billion for all of 2025, marking a steep decline that Bernstein says is the primary driver of price pressure.
Bitcoin ETFs have seen $2.6 billion in net outflows this year out of $75 billion in total assets under management (AUM), with inflows largely sustained by corporate treasury buyers, particularly Michael Saylor’s Strategy ().
The culprit, in the analysts’ view, is retail capital chasing AI stocks instead. “In a market completely dominated by retail’s obsession with AI, mere $2.6Bn outflows YTD are almost encouraging,” the team led by Gautam Chhugani wrote, suggesting the investor base has simply rotated rather than soured on crypto broadly.
The segment of crypto that has performed well is tokenization of real-world assets, with growing trading interest in tokenized equities and commodities, a trend Bernstein links to AI-dominant retail capital markets
But despite the flow slowdown, the analysts argue Bitcoin’s underlying market structure has materially improved. Ownership is now spread across ETF holders, corporate treasuries, wealth management platforms, broker-dealers, and institutional funds including pension and sovereign vehicles.
Historically, Bitcoin drawdowns of 70% were driven by retail sentiment alone, with exchange volumes serving as the main indicator of market turns. That dynamic has changed.
“This maturation phase of Bitcoin is less appreciated and the criticism has largely come from its lack of retail momentum — which may not be a bad thing considering retail has crowded into AI,” the analysts noted.
“Bitcoin being boring this cycle should not be held against it and does not take away from the long-term ‘store of value’ thesis, in our view,” they concluded.