Contents
The price of bitcoin is rising again, driven by an institutional frenzy. Overnight, Asia pushed it well above $28.000, peaking at $29.000. +8% in 24 hours30.000 on the horizon.
BTC price in 7 days. Source: CoinMarketCap
This spike comes at a time when optimism once again appears to be coloring a market seriously battered by the onslaught of US regulators sinking their fangs into the tanned skin of incumbent cryptocurrency traders. Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and others can testify to this.
BlackRock, the driving force behind institutional traders in Bitcoin
But one man's misfortune could be another man's gain, if one is to be believed timing which simultaneously saw the giant BlackRock applied for a spot BTC ETF (effectively a Trust which resembles him in a striking way), and a Wall Street conglomerate finally get their dedicated bitcoin trading platform up and running. More specifically, to BTC and three other cryptocurrencies not listed as titles (financial securities) by the tough US supervisory authority. These include ETH (whose fate has not yet been decided) and two veterans of the proof-of-work consensus mechanism: Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
With traditional finance giants vying for position at the door, confidence is making a comeback. The proof is in the pudding, Grayscale's BTC funda pioneering institutional vehicle that has been struggling for months, got a boost. The GBTC now trades with a discount of only – 33%. after flirting with -44% on June 13, his daily trading volume from $16,1 million to $80 million.
BlackRock inspires further demand for BTC spot ETFs
In the same vein and following the unveiling of BlackRock, another major player, the provider of exchange-traded funds WisdomTree, requested a BTC fund again (trading as a liquidity ETF) with the SEC. Closely followed by the management company Invesco who has also embarked on a new adventure. It is probably the first of many others. We can in fact hypothesize that the numerous applicants for this product, systematically rejected by the federal agency, will try their luck again in the next few weeks.
A different note, but no less significant than TradFi's desire to position itself in a sector with brilliant prospects, Deutsche Bank just applied for a license for a digital asset custody service.
There is Bitcoin and there is Bitcoin
The commitment, not to say the haste, of institutional operators in positioning themselves to conquer market shares at a time when the giants of the sector are faltering under the blows of the regulator clearly demonstrates their faith in an asset that has lost none of its its charm, despite the turmoil that has conditioned its existence since the beginning.
Well, let's temper it, because in the recent events that have upset a sector already bloodied by multiple bloody episodes that will have characterized the worst bear market In its young history, Bitcoin has been largely spared. Indeed, unlike most other cryptocurrencies, which are constantly teetering on the brink, it is has emerged unscathed from the debate that is shaking the US regulatory scene, being unanimously recognized as a goods (digital commodity), effectively escaping the legal shackles of the SEC and its killer arrows.
In such a context, Bitcoin confirms its dominance, approaching 50% and revisiting the peak of almost two years ago. The capital of altcoins, potentially considered as unregistered securities, has migrated to the safest asset on the market.
Fidelity and MicroStrategy, pioneers of Wall Street
A direction that can only please a "maximalist" like Michael Saylor, who has transformed his company MicroStrategy into a sort of Bitcoin ETF with an overflowing treasury of the precious asset (140.000 units). He has never stopped encouraging his colleagues to follow him on the road to "digital gold" and continues to believe more than ever in the bright future of his bet. And rightly so, if we are to believe to massive purchases of MSTR shares by financial giants listed on the Nasdaq. But it has not all been rosy: Since the summer of 2020, Michael Saylor has had to deal with the roller coaster of this young market and the skepticism of his peers about his strategy of hoarding a risky asset. But nothing has changed and his faith has remained unshakeable, even leading him to engage even more in the ecosystem of the queen of cryptocurrencies.
Faced with such a believer, other Wall Street traders pale, but that doesn't mean we've never seen that Fidelitythe American giant of mutual funds, albeit in a more discreet way, got involved in Bitcoin at an early stage, launching in 2018 the Fidelity Digital Assets, a crypto-asset custody and trading service and then a first BTC fund in 2020. The same year, he launched a public appeal to this effect and continued to support it to the end. the thesis of an unsurpassed pioneer as a “single monetary asset”..
In line with the convictions of its CEO Abigail Johnson, the giant has also launched its consumer application for trading bitcoin and ether and is behind EDX Market, the made in Wall Street cryptocurrency platform.
Traditional finance giants want to prepare for the next one bull run
BlackRock, on the other hand, has been less adventurous, acquiring Bitcoin exposure very cautiously and gradually before launching its own dedicated fund and accelerating the move by applying for a spot ETF. It is no coincidence that BlackRock has positioned itself in this market. Anticipate the next bull cycle with a halving of Bitcoin expected in April 2024. This event, which halves the BTC reward given to miners for each block mined, has so far always been the starting point for the price to rise to the highest levels. Gold, assuming the SEC approves his filing, his decision would come shortly before this fateful date, allowing him to leap into action.
The other traditional finance operators are undoubtedly in the same frame of mind. Most of them have lost the running of the bulls BTC's predecessor was unprepared and doesn't want to make the same mistake again. It is therefore very likely that they will pour onto the market in force in the coming weeks and months, also reassured by the resistance of bitcoin in the face of a regulation that is taking its time, at least for the moment.
For small investors, however, the picture is bleaker. With these war machines positioning themselves and favoring the zinzins (institutional investors), they risk ending up with Gros-Jean as before. Of course, the threat is not new. But in light of the latest upheavals, bitcoin for all could become BTC for a few.
Bitcoin again, Bitcoin always, if you don't want to miss out on a singular good that attracts so much greed, hurry up and get your share. Register now at the Bitget platform (commercial link) to buy the first satoshi and not leave everything to the zinzini.
