Some data revealed by Forbes would seem to show that even institutional money is making its way into the bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets.
This data relates in particular to Grayscale Investments, a bitcoin and cryptocurrency asset manager who describes itself as the world’s largest digital currency investment company.
In fact, Grayscale published its Digital Asset Investment Report for the fourth quarter of 2019, which states that total investments in its financial products in 2019 rose to $607.7 million, with an average weekly investment of $11.7 million, of which $9.1 million went into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
The amount raised by Grayscale in 2019 exceeded the cumulative amount from 2013 to 2018, bringing the total raised in its entire history to $1.17 billion.
Bitcoin and institutional investors
The majority of these investments, 71%, came from institutional investors, particularly hedge funds.
In addition, Grayscale was able to expand its investor base by 24% during the year, attracting new clients who accounted for a total of $146.9 million in investments.
Focusing on the fourth quarter alone, total investments amounted to $225.5 million, with the weekly average growing to $17.3 million, of which $14.9 million went into the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
As a result, for the world’s largest asset manager in digital currencies, 2019 closed with an incredible success, unprecedented in its history, primarily due to institutional money.
Moreover, capital inflows were on the rise during the year, with the fourth quarter showing the best results.
The company’s investment products allow for positions in Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Horizen (ZEN), Litecoin (LTC), Stellar Lumens (XLM), XRP and Zcash (ZEC).
The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG), which includes 150 crypto companies worldwide, including CoinDesk and Genesis.
These figures show that the institutional money flow in the crypto markets began in 2019, although volumes are not yet comparable to those in traditional markets.
However, if growth continues, it is possible that institutional investors’ exposure to these new digital assets may multiply over the next few years as a result of a variety of factors.
