U.S. spot-listed bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced the second-biggest outflows of the year on Monday, dropping $516.4 million, Farside data shows.

The withdrawals, the ninth net outflow in 10 days, reflect a growing discomfort with the largest cryptocurrency, which has traded in a narrow price range between $94,000 and $100,000 for most of this month.

On Tuesday, bitcoin broke out of its three-month channel, falling below $90,000 and sliding to as low as $88,250.

According to Velo data, the bitcoin CME annualized basis — the difference between the spot price and futures — has dropped to 4%. This is the lowest since the ETFs started trading in January 2024. This is also known as the cash-and-carry trade, which is a market-neutral strategy that seeks to profit from the mispricing between the two markets.

The strategy involves taking a long position in the spot market and a short position in the futures market. Velo data shows a one-month futures forward contract. Investors collect a premium between the spread of the spot and futures pricing until the futures contract expiry date closes.

At the current level, the basis trade is less than the so-called risk-free rate, the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury of 5%. The difference may persuade investors to close their positions in favor of the greater return. That could see further outflows from the ETFs. Because this is a neutral strategy, investors will also have to close their short position in the futures market.

Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of Bitmex, alludes to the basis trade unravelling in a post on X.

“Lots of IBIT holders are hedge funds that went long ETF short CME future to earn a yield greater than where they fund, short term US treasuries,” he wrote. “If that basis drops as bitcoin falls, then these funds will sell IBIT and buy back CME futures. These funds are in profit, and given basis is close to UST yields they will unwind during US hours and realise their profit. $70,000 I see you mofo!”

State-owned Banco Nacional (BN), the largest commercial bank in Costa Rica and one of the biggest in Central America with over $7 billion in assets, is launching a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund through its investment management arm, BN Fondos, according to local reports.

This marks the first time that Costa Ricans will have access to any type of crypto investment product through the country’s banking system.

The firm is also launching a S&P 500 ETF alongside the bitcoin vehicle. The minimum investment amount for each fund is $100. Investments will be taken in U.S. dollars instead of Costa Rican colones.

“[Costa Rican] regulation doesn’t permit investments in things that aren’t investment vehicles, and bitcoin isn’t considered an investment vehicle from a regulatory perspective, but the ETF is,” said Pablo Montes de Oca, general manager at BN Fondos.

Banco Nacional serves over 2.1 million customers in Costa Rica — more than 40% of the country’s population.

Costa Rica doesn’t have any formal crypto laws, but under the country’s constitution and civil code, as far as private parties are concerned, any activity that is not explicitly forbidden by the law is permitted. Costa Ricans are therefore technically allowed to trade and own cryptocurrencies based on the fact that no law prohibits it.

A comprehensive crypto regulation bill called the Crypto Asset Market Law was introduced at the Legislative Assembly in 2022, but it got stuck at the commission level. The bill aimed to codify the use of cryptocurrencies for the payment of goods and services in Costa Rica, but without making any of them — not even bitcoin — legal tender.

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States flipped to net weekly outflows over the past week, ending their six-week inflow streak that brought in over $5 billion.

According to data from SoSoValue, the 12 spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $585.65 million in net weekly outflows for the week ending Feb. 14, breaking a six-week inflow streak that brought in over $5 billion.

Notably, the week began with $186.28 million in outflows on Feb. 10, which continued with $56.76 million, $251.03 million, and $157.78 million over the next three trading days. That said, the investment funds ended the week on a slightly positive note with a modest $66.19 million in net inflows.

Fidelity’s FBTC attracted the majority of inflows for the day, with $94.04 million entering the fund, ending its negative flow streak recorded over the previous four trading days. The spot Bitcoin ETF is the second-best-performing BTC fund, with $12.5 billion in cumulative net inflows since its launch.

BlackRock’s IBIT followed with an inflow of $22.26 million, while Bitwise’s BITB and Grayscale’s mini Bitcoin Trust also contributed to the positive momentum, recording inflows of $7.99 million and $6.46 million, respectively.

On the outflows side, Grayscale’s GBTC saw $46.95 million in exits, bringing its cumulative net outflows to a substantial $22.01 billion. ARK 21Shares’ ARKB and VanEck’s HODL also posted modest losses of $13.19 million and $4.43 million respectively.

At press time Bitcoin (BTC) was down 2.4% over the past week, trading at $95, 652 per coin.

Meanwhile, the nine spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $26.26 million in weekly outflows for the week ending Feb. 14. After finally beginning to gain traction with investors, ETH funds appear to be building momentum.

Similar to BTC, ETH funds ended the week on a positive note with a modest $11.65 million in net inflows, all of which flowed into Fidelity’s FETH, while the other funds saw zero flows on the day.

Ethereum (ETH) was exchanging hands at $2,685 down only 0.3% over the past week when writing.