Bitcoin took another leg down this week, dropping 5.42% over seven days to trade at $73,693 on May 29. The move comes as BlackRock's IBIT ETF posted nine consecutive days of outflows for the first time since the product launched in 2024. Wall Street money that had piled into bitcoin exposure is now rotating toward Anthropic, the AI company, according to market participants familiar with the shift.
The ETF drain
IBIT's outflow streak is unprecedented. Since its debut, the fund had never seen more than a couple days of net redemptions in a row. Nine straight sessions of investors pulling cash signals something beyond normal rebalancing. The timing lines up with a broader rotation out of crypto and into artificial intelligence plays. Anthropic, the AI startup that has drawn comparisons to OpenAI, is the beneficiary of that institutional cash.
Bitcoin at $73,693
The price action itself tells a grim story for the moment. Bitcoin shed more than five percent in a week, sliding from around $77,900 to $73,693. That’s not a crash — but it’s the kind of steady bleed that frays trader patience. Volume has been below average, suggesting the selloff isn’t panicked so much as directional. Whoever is selling, they’re doing it methodically.
Where Wall Street is going
Institutional allocators are making a bet. The same desks that were scooping up IBIT shares earlier this year are now writing checks to Anthropic. The AI company has been raising at hefty valuations, and the flow of capital suggests fund managers see more near-term upside in large language models than in digital gold. That’s a shift in narrative — and in real dollars. Bitcoin’s thesis as a hedge against monetary debasement hasn’t changed, but the market’s attention span has.
For now, the question is whether IBIT outflows will extend into a tenth day — and whether bitcoin can hold $73,000. The streak has already broken a record. Whether it breaks the price floor is the next thing to watch.
