According to top managers of Bitwise Asset Management and Aspen Digital, it is large capital that now sets the direction for the crypto market. They discussed this in an interview during the Token2049 conference in Singapore.
Bitwise co-founder and CTO Hong Kim noted that the base of bitcoin investors has changed — funds and institutional allocators focused on the long term have replaced retail traders.
“In the first year after the launch of bitcoin ETFs, about $30 billion flowed into them. And just this year, another $20 billion was added,” Kim said.
According to him, every quarter these funds receive from $5 to $10 billion, and the flow is not weakening.
Kim compared the launch of spot ETFs on bitcoin to the moment of an IPO for BTC itself. Now the main participants are public companies and professional investors, not retail players.
He emphasized that such regular inflows indicate a more stable demand than in previous market cycles.
According to SoSoValue, as of today, US spot bitcoin ETFs control more than $169 billion, which is about 6.8% of the total BTC market capitalization.
Crypto is no longer a lottery: now it’s part of a serious strategy
Head of Aspen Digital Elliot Andrews noted that wealthy clients and family offices no longer see cryptocurrency as a way to “catch x100.” Now they view it as an element of a long-term investment strategy.
“The era of chasing hundreds of Xs is over. Investors care about stability and a reasonable risk-return ratio. For most, crypto is a small but significant part of a balanced portfolio,” he said in an interview.
Both speakers emphasized that institutional infrastructure has significantly strengthened in recent years. According to Hong Kim, the issue of custodial solutions for large clients is practically resolved — there are already reliable providers on the market, such as Coinbase, Anchorage and Fidelity.
He also referred to a recent clarification from the SEC, according to which trusts registered in individual states can be considered official asset custodians.
Andrews added that shifts in policy and regulation, both in the US and abroad, have reduced the concerns of wealthy investors regarding crypto.
“We actually appeared because private banks simply did not want to deal with crypto. Clients wanted to get in, but banks needed a reliable place to send them,” he explained.
Big capital pushes the price up
According to analysts, the inflow of money from large managers and consultants helps smooth out market behavior. Instead of sharp jumps, for which crypto was previously famous, now you can increasingly see stable, methodical capital inflows.
This shift, they say, is one of the reasons why bitcoin reached a new all-time high this month. The asset grew by 8% in just a few days after reports of a US government shutdown that partially paralyzed government agencies.
See also: Shares of mining companies soared after bitcoin’s new record
Meanwhile, the deadlock continues in Congress. House Republicans insist on a “clean” budget, while Senate Democrats demand political conditions be included. This only increases uncertainty and fuels interest in bitcoin as protection against dollar devaluation.
Kim and Andrews are confident that the desire to avoid devaluation risk has become the main reason why not only retail but also institutional investors have entered crypto this year.
“Volatility hasn’t disappeared, it just changed its rhythm. But if you look deeper, you can see the market is moving toward accumulation. Slowly but surely,” Kim says.
