According to analysis by CoinShares, the outflows from the cryptocurrency leader, Bitcoin, surged to a record high over the previous week, driven by investors seeking to diversify their crypto portfolio by adding more digital assets. During the past one week, outflows from Bitcoin products and funds touched $98 million – 0.2% of the total assets under management (AUM).

In 2020, investments into Bitcoin (BTC) related products and funds had touched a high of $15.6 billion and in 2021 till date, it has already crossed $4 billion. The interest in the crypto leader has been on the decline as other digital currencies and assets surge to popularity, most notably Ethereum – with rising interest in DeFi and NFTs.

The drive away from Bitcoin was also fueled in part by Elon Musk and his company Tesla announcing a suspension in their plans to accept it as a payment. Musk has raised concerns about the environmental impact of mining Bitcoin – a highly energy intensive process, as the key factor for stopping BTC payments even as he looks for alternative cryptocurrencies that are more energy efficient.

Since hitting a record high close to $65,000 about a month ago, BITCOIN has lost around 35% of its value, with more than 5% of its decline being driven over the past week alone thanks to Musk. On the other hand, ETHEREUM – the world’s second most popular cryptocurrency by market cap, saw inflows rising to $26.5 million during the past week after gaining more than 350% of its value so far this year.