Currently, institutions account for over 99% of all Bitcoin volume emanating from transactions valued at over $100,000, data provided by IntoTheBlock indicates. The report notes that institutional interest in crypto accelerated from the third quarter of 2020, where the share for large transactions has never dropped below 90%. Notably, from 2020 Q3 institutions like PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) ventured into Bitcoin, culminating in several all-time highs across 2021. Elsewhere, companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla are leading the way in investing billions of dollars of their balance sheets in Bitcoin. Historically, institutional interest in Bitcoin has pumped the price high, but the report acknowledges that is not the case at the moment. Bitcoin has experienced high volatility as the crypto sector increasingly correlates with the equities market. At the moment, the stock market is experiencing the effects of the high inflation environment that have accelerated with the geopolitical tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Despite institutions not impacting the price of Bitcoin at the moment, IntoTheBlock indicates there is a significant shift in on-chain data. For instance, the number of Bitcoin addresses with any balance has hit about 40 million.
Potential for growth drives institutions into Bitcoin
Notably, several factors are behind Bitcoin’s appeal to institutions with the potential of an upside growth ranking top. According to Finbold’s previous report, despite Bitcoin opening the year on a negative note, the asset had outperformed the top six tech stocks by an average return on investment (ROI) of 12.24% as of February 13, 2022. Additionally, most economies have had a near-zero interest rate environment in recent months, leaving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as an ideal alternative for institutions. So far, in 2022, some of the big profile companies to venture into crypto include Bain Capital, which raised $560 for a crypto fund, Pantera Capital which raised $1 billion for a crypto fund.
