Institutional inflows into Cardano (ADA) investment products rose sharply last week even as interest in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) waned, highlighting the growth of proof-of-stake assets amid the latest wave of environmental FUD in the markets. 

Institutional investment managers bought $10 million worth of ADA products for the week ending on Monday, according to CoinShares. Cardano investment funds attracted more capital than any other digital asset.

By comparison, Bitcoin funds saw an outflow of $110.9 million during the same week; Ether outflows totaled $12.6 million.

Investors poured $5.5 million into Polkadot funds and $7.1 million into multi-asset investment products, CoinShares said.

In the year-to-date, Cardano investment products have drawn $24 million in institutional assets compared with $4.13 billion for Bitcoin and $924 million for Ether.

CoinShares credited environmental blowback against Bitcoin for the sudden pivot toward proof-of-stake cryptocurrencies like Cardano. The fund manager explained:

“Cardano saw the largest inflows of $10 million, which may represent investors actively choosing proof-of-stake coins based on environmental considerations.”

Bitcoin’s flash crash to below $30,000 last week triggered a tidal wave of selling in the market as Ether, Cardano and every other major altcoin made new local bottoms. As CoinShares noted, Bitcoin volumes on exchanges surged to $155 billion last week, a new all-time high. Markets appeared to be in recovery mode on Monday, though it’s still too premature to declare a bottom.

ADA was among the top-performing cryptos before the market tanked last week. The cryptocurrency made successive highs as it pierced above $2.00 en route to new highs closer to $2.40.

ADA was up 33.5% to $1.50 at the time of writing for a total market capitalization of $47.9 billion.