Crypto prices are slipping again, and the inflation report that moved gold and silver higher this week is not doing the same for digital assets. ETF outflows, meaning investors withdrawing money from exchange-traded funds that hold or track crypto prices, are one of several forces keeping both tokens lower. Bitcoin ($BTC) fell from its opening price of $63,418.16 to $62,721.51 by 8:14 a.m. ET on Friday, August 14. Ethereum ($ETH) opened at $1,884.42, up 0.3% from Thursday's open, and dipped to $1,872.97 in the same period.
What the price data shows
Bitcoin's opening on Friday was flat against Thursday's. Ethereum edged up 0.3% at the open before giving that back. Week over week, bitcoin's opening price is down 1.3% and ethereum's is down 0.9%. Over one month, bitcoin is up 1.9% and ethereum is up 6.3%. The year-over-year comparisons are harder: bitcoin is down 48.6% and ethereum is down 60.4% from this date in 2025.
Gold and silver absorbed the soft July inflation readings and held their gains. Bitcoin and ethereum did not. That split matters because crypto has frequently been marketed as an inflation-hedge asset. The price action this week does not support that framing.
Four pressures are active at once. Investor dollars are moving toward artificial intelligence plays. ETF outflows are pulling out passive buying support. Inflation concerns persist despite the July reports. Legislation clarifying crypto's legal standing remains stalled. The U.S. securities regulator canceled a scheduled meeting to vote on crypto rules, removing one potential near-term catalyst.
The housing policy backdrop
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William J. Pulte ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in late June to prepare their businesses to count cryptocurrency as a qualifying asset for a mortgage application. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the government-sponsored companies that back a major portion of U.S. mortgage lending. Pulte said the housing system needs a significant upgrade and that Americans who own crypto should be able to use it to qualify for a home loan.
What Pulte issued was a preparation directive, not a final rule. The question of how crypto assets count in mortgage underwriting has not been resolved. Better and Coinbase have closed what they describe as the first Fannie Mae-backed crypto mortgage, issued to a couple in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Bitcoin's all-time high was $126,198.07, set on October 6, 2025. Ethereum's was $4,953.73, set on August 24, 2025.