Institutionalists accumulate bitcoin amid declining BTC balances on exchanges
Date: 2023-07-09 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BLOCKCHAIN
Institutional investors are actively accumulating bitcoin (BTC) amid the filing of an application for the launch of a spot ETF by investment giant BlackRock.
According to ByteTree, the volume of bitcoin stored in funds has grown to 850,000 coins. Crypto analyst Miles Deutscher suggested that this indicates the beginning of a large-scale accumulation of BTC by institutional players.
Major players are actively buying up bitcoin
Over the past month, institutional investors' interest in bitcoin has increased significantly. The catalyst for demand was the submission by several traditional organizations of applications for the launch of spot exchange-traded funds. And although the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not previously approved any such application, the mood of market participants quickly changed to positive.
The Glassnode analytical platform confirms the increased interest of institutions in the main cryptocurrency. According to its data, on July 7, the number of addresses with a balance of 1,000 BTC or more reached a monthly high of 1,685.
In addition, the perception of bitcoin by former skeptics is becoming more and more positive. Recent statements by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink best reflect this changed position. The investment tycoon, who previously referred to BTC as a "money laundering index," acknowledged that the asset deserves attention as a hedge against currency devaluation.
"Bitcoin is not based on any one currency, so it can be an asset that people can play as an alternative. In many ways, it's the digitization of gold."
BTC balance on exchanges fell to a 5-year low
The growth in the number of institutional investors coincided with a drop in the balance of bitcoin on exchanges. This suggests that more and more BTC holders prefer self-storage.
Data from Glassnode shows that there are currently 2.26 million bitcoins stored on centralized exchanges, the lowest since March 2018
BTC continues to trade above $30,000, recently hitting an annual high of $31,500. At the time of writing, the price of the main cryptocurrency is $30,273.
