Bitcoin ETFs Surpass Satoshi’s Holdings, Blockchain Firm Breaks Down Institutional Adoption In 2024

2024 will be a year for the history books in the cryptocurrency industry, especially Bitcoin. After starting the year with the approval of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), it did not take long before the leading cryptocurrency rose on the back of fresh institutional capital to a new all-time high.

This has largely been the story of Bitcoin in the past 12 months, with the market leader receiving the most attention from institutional players and large corporations. Blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant recently published a report highlighting the influence major investors have had on the world’s largest cryptocurrency this year.

Is 2024 the best year in terms of institutional adoption of Bitcoin?

In its latest weekly report, blockchain intelligence platform CryptoQuant discussion How 2024 was a defining year for institutional adoption of Bitcoin – driven by the launch of spot ETFs in January. By the end of the year, Bitcoin funds already held more coins (over 1.1 million) than any entity (including anonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto).

ETFs have provided a way for institutional and retail investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without directly owning it. Meanwhile, spot exchange-traded funds have helped spread a steady flow of capital into the major cryptocurrency over the past 11 months.

According to CryptoQuant data, BTC has seen an impressive increase in its realized capitalization, rising from $430 billion to a record high of $730 billion so far in 2024. One of the major contributors to this level of growth is MicroStrategy, the companies’ largest holder. of Bitcoin so far this year.

Source: CryptoQuant

Data from CryptoQuant reveals that MicroStrategy has strived to consolidate its position as the largest BTC holder by steadily filling its bags throughout the year. The business intelligence company started the year holding 189,000 bitcoins, which has now expanded by 112% to 402,000 coins.

Furthermore, on-chain data shows that major Bitcoin investors have increased their holdings by a net 275,000 coins so far in 2024 to a record high of 16.4 million BTC. These numbers highlight the growing institutional demand and growing influence of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin in traditional finance, especially in the past year.

Bitcoin price overview

As a result of increasing institutional adoption, Bitcoin’s price has seen explosive growth in 2024, recently reaching a six-figure valuation. As of this writing, the leading cryptocurrency is valued at just over $100,000, reflecting a roughly 5% increase over the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, BTC remains the largest cryptocurrency in the digital asset sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $1.99 trillion.

The price of BTC on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT on the TradingView

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView