Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) price could be hovering around $20,000 without the support of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg.

What Happened: In a conversation with Coindesk on Thursday, Balchunas outlined why ETFs have played a critical role in stabilizing Bitcoin's price.

"If you take the ETFs out of the picture, the price of Bitcoin is like $20,000," he noted, suggesting that the introduction and support of ETFs, such as those from BlackRock and Grayscale, have prevented a steeper decline.

"The ETFs should be seen as nothing short of a godsend," Balchunas added.

The comments come as the cryptocurrency market faces significant outflows, with Bitcoin spot ETFs recording a total net outflow of $81.363 million on Aug. 14

Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust (OTC:GBTC) led the outflows with a substantial $56.8658 million, while Franklin ETF (CBOE: EZBC) and BlackRock ETF (NASDAQ:IBIT) saw inflows of $3.4185 million and $2.6836 million, respectively, according to data from SoSo Value.

Meanwhile, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) spot ETFs experienced a net inflow of $10.7736 million, despite Grayscale's (NYSE:ETHE) seeing an outflow of $16.9465 million, data shows.

BlackRock's (NASDAQ:ETHA) and Fidelity's (CBOE: FETH) ETFs recorded inflows of $16.1332 million and $6.6493 million, respectively.

Balchunas highlighted the timing of the ETF launches as crucial, especially in light of ongoing challenges such as the Mt. Gox bankruptcy and Germany selling its Bitcoin stack.

He suggested that without the support from ETFs, Bitcoin's price could have dropped significantly lower, exacerbating the market's volatility.