ETFs See Two-Week Net Inflow; On-Chain Gold Surpasses $6.1B—Crypto Outperforms U.S. Equities Across the Board This Week

Author: Artemis Analytics

Translated by: TechFlow

TechFlow Intro: This week’s report uses data to illustrate one key point: the crypto market is shifting from defense to offense. Spot ETFs recorded net inflows for two consecutive weeks; on-chain tokenized gold supply tripled; and HIP-3 open interest hit an all-time high—these three metrics strengthening simultaneously reflect macro uncertainty driving capital to reprice hard assets.

Market Overview: Weekly Recap

Welcome back to Artemis’ “Digital Finance Fundamentals” weekly report!

This week, crypto assets delivered notably strong returns. HYPE led the pack with a +18.8% gain over the past seven days; Figure Technologies (+13.1%) and Circle (+11.7%) also posted sizable gains. Among major assets, Ethereum (+5.2%), Solana (+4.7%), and Bitcoin (+4.7%) all rose, while Uniswap (+4.2%) and SKY (+8.3%) further boosted overall digital asset gains.

Notably, crypto significantly outperformed traditional equities this week. Although digital asset–linked stocks broadly declined, Coinbase (-0.9%) and Robinhood (-5.0%) underperformed the broader market, highlighting increased divergence at the equity level. Traditional benchmark indices also fell: the S&P 500 declined -1.5% for the week, and the Nasdaq 100 declined -1.0%. Overall, risk appetite clearly flowed back into crypto assets, with tokens and select crypto-linked equities substantially outperforming the broader market.

This Week’s Highlights

HIP-3 open interest and trading volume hit new all-time highs, driven by oil futures

Crypto ETFs recorded net inflows for two consecutive weeks

On-chain tokenized gold supply surpassed 1.2 million ounces

I. HIP-3 Open Interest and Volume Hit New Highs, Oil Futures the Primary Driver

HIP-3 open interest (OI) reached another record high this week: as of March 12, total OI stood at approximately $1.3 billion. Of this, trade.xyz alone contributed around $1.2 billion, while smaller platforms such as Dreamcash and HyENA added incremental depth.

More important than the absolute numbers is the shift in drivers. As of March 14, oil accounted for 31% of total HIP-3 open interest—compared to being nearly negligible throughout most of January and February. In less than two weeks, oil vaulted from a marginal role to one of the largest sources of demand across the entire ecosystem.

This shift signals that HIP-3 is evolving beyond crypto-native, long-tail experiments into a truly permissionless macro-expression venue. Offshore traders seeking rapid exposure to oil, indices, and event-driven volatility are accelerating capital flows onto-chain. If this trend continues, HIP-3 may become the clearest case yet of an on-chain market beginning to absorb global commodity flows.

II. Crypto ETFs Record Net Inflows for Two Consecutive Weeks

Crypto ETF fund flows remained positive for the second consecutive week, further reinforcing signs of renewed institutional demand. For the week ending March 8, net inflows totaled $609.9 million, led by Bitcoin ETFs (+$568.5 million), with healthy inflows also seen in Ethereum (+$23.5 million) and Solana (+$22.0 million). Ripple-related products saw modest net outflows (-$4.1 million), but overall fund flows remain strongly positive.

The more critical takeaway is that this no longer looks like a one-off rebound. After several weeks of pressure, two consecutive weeks of positive data suggest asset allocators are gradually rebuilding crypto exposure.

The macro logic sustaining these flows is directly tied to the Iran conflict.

(Hayes’ “iOS Warfare” offers the most comprehensive exposition of this logic to date.)

The macro backdrop may continue to provide support. Escalating geopolitical tensions, rising oil prices, and markets reassessing Fed rate-cut expectations are prompting investors to take hard assets and alternative stores of value more seriously. Should macro uncertainty persist, ETF demand may remain robust as allocators rebuild crypto positions.

III. On-Chain Tokenized Gold Supply Surpasses 1.2 Million Ounces

Tokenized gold supply continued its rapid expansion this week, reaching approximately 1.2 million ounces on-chain—valued at roughly $6.1 billion. Compared to less than $2 billion just under a year ago, this explosive growth underscores how quickly investor demand for blockchain-based hard asset exposure is expanding.

Against a backdrop where macro uncertainty increasingly dominates markets, tokenized gold benefits from two converging trends: growing allocation demand for gold itself as a traditional safe-haven asset, and steadily increasing market acceptance of on-chain wrappers as efficient channels for liquidity.

A broader conclusion emerges: tokenization is no longer solely about payments or stablecoins—it is meaningfully extending into store-of-value assets, with gold emerging as one of the clearest real-world beneficiaries.

This Week’s Chart Picks

Markets continue to grow, with total open interest approaching $1.3 billion this week; Kalshi and Polymarket lead the field. Traders are increasingly using event markets to express real-time views on political, macroeconomic, and geopolitical volatility. This dynamic warrants attention—it signals that demand has expanded beyond pure crypto price speculation into broader real-world information and probability pricing markets.

Other Notable News

Mastercard launches large-scale crypto partnership program. On March 11, Mastercard unveiled a new crypto partnership initiative encompassing over 85 institutions—including Binance, Circle, Ripple, PayPal, Gemini, and Paxos. The program aims to leverage stablecoins and digital assets to power cross-border payments, B2B transfers, and global settlements across networks including Solana, Polygon, Avalanche, and Aptos. This marks another step forward in integrating blockchain payment infrastructure with mainstream financial systems.

Coinbase in talks with Bybit on potential investment collaboration. On March 14, reports emerged that Coinbase is negotiating a possible investment or strategic partnership with Bybit. If finalized, the deal would bring Bybit closer to regulatory compliance in the U.S. market, while giving Coinbase access to one of the world’s largest offshore exchanges. Viewed more broadly, such negotiations confirm a trend: as market structure matures, leading global exchanges are increasingly forming alliances with regulated counterparties.

BitGo selected by SoFi to provide infrastructure and institutional distribution support for SoFiUSD. This collaboration makes BitGo the core provider for issuance, custody, and distribution of SoFi’s bank-issued stablecoin, enabling institutional clients to access SoFiUSD directly via the BitGo platform. It further demonstrates that regulated banks are moving beyond stablecoin experimentation into actual deployment—with crypto-native infrastructure providers handling backend support.

Kraken’s banking division moves closer to direct U.S. payment rails. Kraken Financial’s acquisition of a Federal Reserve master account continues to draw significant attention, widely regarded as one of the most important infrastructure developments in this space. Direct connectivity to Fedwire and related payment rails will reduce friction for institutional fiat transfers—and represents yet another example of crypto firms integrating into core financial plumbing rather than building parallel systems.