Investors pulled $450.4 million from U.S. spot Bitcoin funds on September 15, the largest single-day withdrawal from these products since late June. A spot fund, unlike a futures fund, holds actual Bitcoin directly on behalf of shareholders rather than contracts that track the price. The withdrawals reversed the previous session's $159.9 million inflow and came on the same day the Senate failed to advance a bill that would have created federal rules for digital asset markets.
Data from Farside Investors, which tracks daily flows across the 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, showed the selling was concentrated in the two largest products. Fidelity's FBTC saw $214.8 million in net redemptions. BlackRock's IBIT followed with $161.7 million. Together, FBTC and IBIT accounted for roughly $376.5 million of the day's total. Grayscale's GBTC added $44.1 million in outflows.
The last comparable single-day total was June 25, when $696.29 million left the same group of funds.
What stalled in the Senate
The Senate held a procedural vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, also known as the CLARITY Act, a bill designed to set a federal framework for digital asset markets and assign clear jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. To advance to a full vote, a bill needs 60 senators to agree on a cloture motion, the procedure that ends debate and allows a measure to move forward. Only 50 senators voted yes.
Four Republican senators voted against advancing the bill alongside Democrats. Senator Thom Tillis changed his vote as a procedural step that preserves the possibility of reconsideration. Opponents had sought stronger ethics provisions addressing elected officials' financial interests in digital assets, and negotiations ran until shortly before the vote without producing a deal.
Two variables, not one
The timing of the outflows and the Senate vote coincide, but the flows data does not establish that the failed vote alone caused investors to redeem shares. A second factor was active. Markets were also preparing for a Federal Reserve interest rate decision, with a rate increase widely expected, and Treasury yields were already putting pressure on risk assets.
Despite the day's sharp reversal, September net flows across the 12 Bitcoin spot funds remained marginally positive after the withdrawals, at roughly $16.8 million.