Ethereum investments see fourth straight week of outflows post-Merge

Ethereum (ETH-USD) investments experienced outflows for the fourth consecutive week, totaling $15.4M, as investors weighed the blockchain's successful Merge to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. The token itself dipped 16% in the past five sessions. On the other hand, bitcoin (BTC-USD), which slipped 5.6% in the past week, saw inflows totaling $17M following five weeks of outflows that mounted to $93M, CoinShares said in a report. Short-bitcoin vehicles also saw minor inflows of $2.6M with assets under management near a record $169M. Overall, cryptocurrency investment products saw inflows totaling a modest $7.3M in the week ended September 16, suggesting "continued lack of engagement amongst investors at present," CoinShares noted. "EVERY single person I've spoken with in the last 24 hours is trying to dump their ETH position at any price," said Mike Alfred, who's on the board of directors at publicly-traded crypto exchange Iris Energy. "Nobody wants to participate in a system controlled by wealthy devs who can change the rules at the drop of a hat. The selling is relentless. Bloodbath."Prior to the ether Merge taking effect, SA contributor The Digital Trend warned that ETH's price will drop after its software upgrade, thus creating a market-wide slump. Earlier, bitcoin falls below $19K, marking three-month trading low.