Institutional Call? Grayscale, 3iQ, ETC Group Stacked up Over 24,000 BTC Last Week

Bitcoin adoption among institutional investors has been rising tremendously since the current bullish tide began. This is evident as institutional-grade investment platforms have been posting substantial records and have also accumulated more Bitcoin so far. Just in the past week, Grayscale Investments, 3iQ, and ETC Group purchased over 24,000 BTC, according to new data. 

The record simply translates to more interest and demand for the leading digital currency amongst institutional investors.

Institutions are Increasingly Buying Bitcoin

A recent diagram from Crypto Crunch App summarized the Bitcoin purchases across the three platforms. 

Grayscale Investments is one of the largest Bitcoin fund managers. According to the information, it purchased about 20,336 BTC in just the past week. At the moment, its assets under management (AUM) are worth more than US$11 billion. The assets are dominated by its Bitcoin Trust fund, which is worth about US$9.65 billion. Other top-ranking Grayscale Trust funds cover Ethereum (US$1.2 billion) and the Digital Large Cap Fund (US$155 million).

From the recent Bitcoin purchase, Grayscale currently has about 526,764 BTC from its Trust Fund. Likewise, the total number of Bitcoin held by the Canadian investment fund manager, 3iQ, increased to about 13,765 BTC, after an additional purchase of 3,140 BTC last week. ETC Group made the third-largest Bitcoin purchase last week, raising its Bitcoin holdings by 895 BTC to a total of 8,312 BTC.

More purchase, more scarcity

Most recently, Crypto News Australia reported that Square’s Cash App and PayPal purchased more than 100 percent of newly-mined Bitcoin – signaling more adoption amongst retail investors. Together with the report today, it is evident that there is currently a strong demand for cryptocurrencies from both retail and institutions. This demand was even attributed as one of the factors behind the runs in the Bitcoin price.

Noteworthily, Bitcoin supply was recently reduced after the third halving. As the demand continues to grow – with less supply – the cryptocurrency gets more scarce, which is speculated to drive up prices even higher. However, it remains largely unknown how Bitcoin will react amidst the growing demand.