According to a recent research note by JPMorgan, institutional investors have withdrawn about $20 billion from their gold investments since mid-October and during the same time frame, institutional inflows into Bitcoin (BTC) have increased by $7 billion. The bank said, “any such crowding out of gold as an 'alternative' currency implies big upside for Bitcoin over the long term." JPMorgan believes that Bitcoin’s declining volatility could increase adoption from institutional investors. If that happens, the value of the private investments in Bitcoin may mirror that of gold and this gives Bitcoin an upside target of $130,000 in the long term, …

Following in the footsteps of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs has announced plans to allow its wealth management clients to trade in cryptocurrencies and other digital assets. In an interview with CNBC, Mary Rich, the global head of digital assets for Goldman Sachs private wealth management division, said that the rollout may happen sometime in the second quarter of 2021. Bitcoin adoption by two of the world’s preeminent investment banks is likely to force other banks to walk down the crypto path sooner than later. The arrival of fresh money from the clients of these legacy institutions may further increase demand …

On Monday Visa announced that it had launched a pilot program with Crypto.com to enable its partners to settle fiat transactions by sending USD Coin (USDC) stablecoin to Visa’s Ethereum address at Anchorage digital bank. This step by Visa shows that legacy finance companies are increasing their adoption of cryptocurrencies. According to a PwC report reviewed by Bloomberg, crypto mergers and acquisitions soared to $1.1 billion in 2020 compared to $481 million in 2019. The increase in these deals is likely to surpass the 2020 numbers on every single metric with the arrival of large investors and institutional players according …

Glassnode data shows Bitcoin (BTC) exchange reserves on Coinbase have dropped by about $8 billion. This indicates that institutional investors are locking away their purchases in cold storage for the long term instead of booking profits. HODLing by institutions is a huge positive as it will continue to reduce Bitcoin's available supply, which may boost prices even if demand begins to diminish. The news flow suggests no slowdown in institutional adoption. New Zealand Wealth Funds Management revealed that its product KiwiSaver Growth Strategy allocated 5% of its assets to Bitcoin in October 2020. According to the firm’s chief investment officer …

On March 24, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that U.S. buyers are now able to purchase Tesla vehicles with Bitcoin (BTC). Musk also tweeted that Tesla will not convert BTC payments into fiat but will add to its existing treasury of about 48,000 Bitcoin. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives expects Bitcoin to account for less than 5% of Tesla transactions, but the percentage could move up as crypto adoption increases. The analyst said the move by Tesla could be a defining moment for Bitcoin from a transactional point of view. This week, CNBC host Jim Cramer thanked Anthony Pompliano on …

The Turkish lira lost 15% of its value and dipped close to its all-time low after Turkey's President Erdogan fired central bank governor Naci Agbal. This resulted in a massive spike in Bitcoin (BTC) searches in Turkey as investors sought to protect their wealth from devaluation. This is just another example that shows how investors may be treating Bitcoin as a possible substitute for fiat currencies. In other news, United States Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell has a different view. While speaking at an event hosted by the Bank for International Settlements, Powell said that Bitcoin is more of a …

Turns out a turtle’s arms are plenty long enough to pull a rug. On Friday, Binance Smart Chain, or BSC, file storage project TurtleDex performed a “rug pull” exit scam — a colloquial term for when a project’s developers drain the liquidity or stored funds invested by the protocol. Coming off of a March 15 presale round that raised 9,000 Binance Coin (BNB) tokens worth nearly $2.5 million, the team drained those funds from trading pools on BSC-native decentralized exchanges PancakeSwap and ApeSwap, converted the liquidity to Ether (ETH), and sent the funds to Binance exchange wallets to be sold, …

A report by Deutsche Bank Research said that Bitcoin (BTC) has become “too important to ignore” and may attract regulation by the end of 2021. Deutsche Bank analysts expect Bitcoin to reach a turning point in about “two or three years” when it will be clear whether Bitcoin will evolve into an asset class or not. In the short term, the report forecast Bitcoin to “remain ultra volatile.” A different report by Bank of America provided some insight into the possible reasons for Bitcoin’s volatility. Bank of America analysts estimated that Bitcoin price may rise by one percent when there …

Institutional investors have continued to pump money into cryptocurrency investment products in Q1 of this year, according to a report by CoinShares. The inflows of $4.2 billion in the first quarter have broken the previous record of $3.9 billion made in the fourth quarter of 2020. NYDIG CEO Robby Gutmann recently told listeners of the “On the Brink” podcast to brace for a slew of announcements by the firm’s strategic partners. Gutmann said the announcements could bring new levels of “Bitcoin adoption, Bitcoin availability, Bitcoin products and services within the existing traditional financial landscape.” While new products and services that …

The 2017 Bitcoin (BTC) bull run was led by retail traders, long-term crypto believers and Bitcoin whales. However, the tide turned in 2020 as institutional investors became the catalyst for the latest crypto bull run. However, data compiled by JPMorgan Chase shows that retail traders have made a strong comeback in the first quarter of this year. JPMorgan analysts used data from Square and Paypal to determine that retail investors bought 187,426 BTC for Q1 2021, which is more than the institutional purchase of 172,684 BTC during the same period. While this data may not be bulletproof, it gives a …

Bitcoin (BTC) missed hitting a new all-time high on March 11 by just a whisker as Oracle Corporation denied rumors that it had purchased about 72,000 Bitcoin. This suggests that traders could be looking for signs of greater institutional adoption to boost Bitcoin’s price further. One of the main factors that may have kept several institutional investors at bay is the lack of regulatory clarity but this could be on the verge of changing. In a recent interview on the Thinking Crypto podcast, Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, said that Gary Gensler’s nomination …

Long-term investors use dips in a strong uptrend to buy while short-term investors are fixated on calling a top. In the past few days, data from Glassnode has shown significantly sized Bitcoin (BTC) outflows from Coinbase exchange, which is a sign of accumulation according to analysts. It is encouraging to note that the demand is not limited to one exchange and data from Material Indicators shows buy orders of $100,000 and higher are reaching an all-time high. This shows that the influx of institutional investors and large corporations entering the crypto sector continues to accelerate. Proof of this comes as …