Citigroup's downgrade this time is quite harsh, with expectations for ETF net inflows directly dropping to zero, and institutions are starting to get cold feet too.

According to Reuters, Citigroup has lowered its 12-month forecasts for Bitcoin and Ethereum, cutting its Bitcoin target price from $112k to $82k and its Ethereum target price from $3,175 to $2,240, while reducing its expected ETF net inflows over the next 12 months from $10 billion to zero. Citigroup noted that ETF flows have recently turned negative, with Bitcoin ETFs seeing outflows of approximately $3.3 billion so far this year; slow progress on U.S. crypto legislation and concerns over potential Bitcoin sales by digital asset treasury companies are also affecting investor sentiment.