Bitcoin Sees Growing Institutional Demand Amid Surge Past $70,000 Mark: Analyst

The price of the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin ($BTC) topped the $73,000 mark over this week and nearly hit its previous all-time high before enduring a significant correction, seemingly as institutional demand for BTC in custodial wallets has kept on rising.

According to data shared by the CEO of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, over the past year 278,000 BTC have flowed into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States – with 80% of those funds coming from retail investors – compared to 670,000 BTC into whale wallets with over 1,000 BTC holdings.

Per Ki Young Ju, in custodial wallets “institutional demand is twice that of retail.”

#Bitcoin institutional demand in custodial wallets is rising.

Over the past year, 278K BTC flowed into U.S. spot ETFs (80% retail) vs. 670K BTC into whale wallets (1K+ BTC, excluding exchanges/mining pools).

In custodial wallets, institutional demand is twice that of retail. pic.twitter.com/OsxS7x3kEL

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) October 29, 2024

As CryptoGlobe reported, the total holdings of the Bitcoin ETFs approved in the United States earlier this year have surpassed the 1 million BTC market, meaning total market capitalization of the BTC held by these funds is now above a staggering $70 billion.

In terms of total BTC holdings, IBIT is followed by Grayscale’s GBTC, which saw significant Bitcoin outflows since it was converted into a spot Bitcoin ETF. In third place is Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), with 178,330 BTC.

The spot Bitcoin ETFs have, as CryptoGlobe reported, seen over $23 billion in total inflows so far this year as the price of the flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin saw its price move up more than 70% year-to-date to now trade above the $72,000 mark.

Its performance has seen IBIT, the leading spot Bitcoin ETF, trade $3.3 billion in a single day, with the volume striking Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas as “odd” as it came during a BTC price rise, while typically volumes for ETFs surge during downturns, although “volume can spike if there’s a FOMO-ing frenzy,” referring to investors being affected by fear of missing out (FOMO).

The 1 million BTC holdings milestone comes at a time in which the cryptocurrency community is celebrating the anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper, which was sent by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto to the Cryptography Mailing List back on October 31, 2008.

Featured image via Unsplash.

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