Bank of America Data Shows $3.2 Billion Slammed Into Crypto Funds in One Week, Biggest Haul Since October 2025

Crypto funds just had their best week in nearly a year, and it happened while the Federal Reserve was talking tougher on rates, not easier.

Bank of America's weekly Flow Show report, tracking EPFR data, shows $3.2 billion in net inflows into crypto funds for the week ending Wednesday, Aug. 26, according to Schwab Network. That's the largest single-week haul since October 2025. It also reverses a $392 million outflow from the previous week, a roughly $3 billion week-over-week reversal.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Did the Heavy Lifting

US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs pulled in about $2.6 billion of the total, according to data compiled by The Block from SoSoValue, as reported by BigGo Finance. Bitcoin ETFs alone took in $1.9 billion. Ethereum ETFs added $697.2 million. Both products posted their largest weekly inflows of 2026.

Combined trading volume across the two products hit $29 billion, more than triple the prior week's level. Bitcoin ETF volume specifically jumped 219%, from $6.9 billion to $22.1 billion, according to BigGo Finance.

Prices moved in step. As of Aug. 24, Bitcoin traded around $77,636, up 23.49% on the week, according to CoinMarketCap data cited by BigGo Finance. Ethereum climbed 31.31% to $2,465 over the same stretch. Crypto Briefing described Bitcoin as rallying into the $78,000 to $80,000 range during the period.

August as a whole was strong. Monthly Bitcoin ETF inflows surpassed $3 billion for the month, per Crypto Briefing, making it one of the strongest months on record for the product. That's a sharp turnaround from July, when Bank of America flagged a weekly inflow of just $0.9 billion.

Gold Rallied Too, and the Fed Didn't Cooperate

Crypto wasn't alone. Bank of America's report shows gold pulled in $7.3 billion for the same week, also its biggest inflow since October 2025, according to Schwab Network. Bonds took in $17.7 billion, stocks $9.2 billion, and cash $9.2 billion.

The inflows came right after Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish message. After Warsh spoke, the CME Group FedWatch tool put the odds of a September rate hike near 60%, up from 35% just before the market opened that Friday, according to Schwab Network. Stock indexes still finished the week mostly higher, Dow up 0.5%, S&P 500 up about 0.5%, though the semiconductor-heavy PHLX index fell 2.3% and the Russell 2000 dropped 1.5%.

Higher rate odds are supposed to pressure non-yielding assets like gold and speculative assets like crypto. Jim Ferraioli, Director of Crypto Research at the Schwab Center for Financial Research, called it the "rebirth of the debasement trade," tying Bitcoin and gold strength to Warsh's tone regardless of the nominal rate path. Cooper Howard, the Schwab Center's Director of Fixed Income Research and Strategy, said the hawkish signal means investors need to watch incoming inflation data closely. Neither claim is settled fact; both are named strategists offering a read on a market that moved contrary to textbook rate logic.

The Access Story Behind the Money

Spot ETFs have opened the door for a specific kind of buyer that couldn't touch crypto directly before: pension funds, endowments, and registered investment advisors running compliance-constrained portfolios. Bank of America has been expanding that access itself, allowing certain clients to allocate up to 4% of portfolios into regulated crypto products, according to Crypto Briefing.

That's separate from Bank of America's $250 billion Critical Infrastructure Finance Initiative, announced Aug. 11 and reported by Epoch Times. That initiative, focused on data centers, energy infrastructure, and critical minerals through July 2027, is corporate lending and advisory work led by Karen Fang, the bank's global head of infrastructure and sustainable finance. It has nothing to do with the fund-flow data in the Flow Show report. Morgan Stanley pledged $1.5 trillion over a decade for similar sectors, and JPMorgan Chase committed $1.5 trillion last year to defense, energy, and manufacturing, per Epoch Times, so Bank of America's infrastructure push is part of a broader Wall Street trend distinct from what happened in crypto funds this particular week.

The Catch: The Year Still Looks Weak

One blazing week doesn't erase a rough year. BigGo Finance notes that on a cumulative basis since the start of 2026, Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs remain in net outflow territory, and some observers are cautioning against reading too much into a single surge. The week ending Aug. 7 saw $1.1 billion in inflows, the largest since April, only to be followed by a $392 million outflow the very next week. Volatility, not a clean trend, has defined 2026 fund flows.

Whether the Aug. 26 surge holds up depends heavily on what the Fed actually does. The FOMC is scheduled to meet Sept. 16-17, and CME FedWatch odds of a rate hike stood near 60% as of Warsh's Friday remarks. If the Fed hikes and crypto keeps rallying anyway, the debasement-trade theory gains real evidence. If flows reverse again the way they did in mid-August, this week will look like one more spike in a choppy year, not a turning point.