PANews reported on February 15th, citing CNBC, that although Bitcoin prices have fallen nearly 50% since hitting an all-time high of $126,000 last October, sparking concerns about another "crypto winter," ETF experts say that outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs are primarily driven by hedge funds and short-term traders, rather than a large-scale exodus of long-term investors. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated that ETF investors are not the main force behind the sell-off; the market pressure mainly comes from long-term crypto investors and short-term traders using ETFs as a tool.

Galaxy CEO Mike Novogratz pointed out that the "speculative era" in the crypto market may be coming to an end, and future returns will be closer to long-term investments, "which will be real-world assets with much lower returns." GraniteShares founder and CEO Will Rhind stated that the current period is difficult for Bitcoin investors, especially with the strong performance of "hard assets" like gold while Bitcoin continues to fall, shaking the foundations of the "digital gold" narrative. However, he noted that if investors generally capitulate, the outflow of funds over the past three months should be close to the inflow levels of the past year.