Bitcoin’s big month: Did US institutions prevail over Asian retail traders?
There may be no single reason for BTC’s 39% January price gain, but some suspect institutional investors. Can their impact be quantified, though? Bitcoin experienced the second-strongest January in its history — and the best since 2013 — rising nearly 40% amid wide reports that institutional investors were back on board. Zhong Yang Chan, head of research at CoinGecko, told Cointelegraph that there were “net institutional inflows into digital asset funds in January 2023, particularly in the last two weeks, with Bitcoin the largest beneficiary.” Meanwhile, a Jan. 30 CoinShares blog noted that the total assets under management in digital asset investment products — a good gauge of institutional participation — had risen to $28 billion, led by Bitcoin (BTC), which was up 43% from November 2022’s low point in the current cycle. The reasons for this bullishness varied depending on whom one asked, ranging from macro factors like a pause in inflation growth to more technical reasons like a s...