This Week in Bitcoin: ETF Flows Turn Red, SEC Hack Plea…

Bitcoin’s price action this week was mostly flat: The biggest virtual coin hasn’t moved over the last day, and is currently priced at $97,575, CoinGecko shows. It’s up just 1.5% on the week.

The oldest cryptocurrency hasn’t touched the magical $100,000 mark since the beginning of February as traders try to navigate an increasingly complex new investing landscape—with an unpredictable new U.S. President in the White House.

President Donald Trump has threatened, gone ahead with, and paused tariffs against major economies in recent weeks—all of which has impacted crypto prices to varying degrees.

And this week, data showing that consumer prices rose more than expected last month in the U.S. only further hurt risk assets like crypto.

Still, the biggest cryptocurrency is still up significantly since the new commander in chief got elected, rising over 40% since the November 5 election, when it was trading for $69,335.

ETF flows

Investors pulled money out of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds every day this week, according to Farside Investors, with $650.8 million cashed out from Monday to Thursday. Flows flipped positive on Friday with $70.6 million in investment, but not nearly enough to counteract the earlier losses.

The bearishness comes after the funds experienced massive demand in January, but flows have slowed down since President Trump started talking tariffs. And there was a surprise twist the previous week when Ethereum ETF flows actually beat those for Bitcoin funds.

Strategy back to buying

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) hit the buy button again after not buying cryptocurrency for one week at the end of January. The software company, which has pivoted hard to stockpiling Bitcoin, shared in its latest disclosure that it spent $742.4 million  on BTC between February 3 and February 9.

The company rebranded last week in a “a natural evolution” to become more Bitcoin-focused, and now holds a total of 478,740 BTC, worth nearly $47 billion.

GameStop eyeing Bitcoin?

And video game retailer GameStop’s shares pumped Thursday on news that the meme stock company was thinking about investing in Bitcoin.

A CNBC report, citing unnamed sources close to the company, said that the company was “exploring investments in alternative asset classes”—including the orange coin. GameStop did not respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

The video game shop jumped back in the spotlight last year after Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill, the trader who started the original 2021 stock buying frenzy, posted a meme online for the first time in three years. He helped pump the price of the stock across multiple 2024 appearances, including his first livestream since the original run.

GameStop (NYSE: GME) finished the week priced at $27.00 a share after rising 5.5% this week.

Man admits to SEC X hack

Remember when Bitcoin shot up in price after the Securities and Exchange Commission’s X account tweeted that the long-awaited Bitcoin ETFs had been approved, only to drop again on news of a hack?

Well, the man guilty of the act that caused all the commotion has admitted to the crime.

Eric Council, 25, who was arrested in October, pleaded guilty in a Washington federal court on Monday to aggravated identity theft and access device fraud, Bloomberg reported.

Council, of Athens, Alabama, could now face up to 15 years in prison for identity theft and an additional three years for impersonating a federal agency.

Edited by Andrew Hayward