Crypto Inflows Hit a New Record, But Markets Want Reassurance from the Federal Reserve

Inflows into cryptocurrency funds and products hit a new record of $4.2 billion for the first quarter, as per CoinShares data, which reflects growing institutional interest.

In the fourth quarter of last year, the record high for crypto inflows was $3.9 billion, putting the total inflows for 2020 to $6.7 billion.

Bitcoin BTC -3.65% Bitcoin / USD BTCUSD $ 49,017.60
-$1,789.14-3.65% Volume 53.7 b Change -$1,789.14 Open $49,017.60 Circulating 18.71 m Market Cap 917.15 b 42 min Sushiswap's SUSHI is the “Most Undervalued Token,” says Arca CIO Jeff Dorman 1 h BTC Tumbles Back Under $48k, Twitter CEO says No Single Person or Institution can Change or Stop Bitcoin 19 h City of Williston North Dakota Adopts Crypto Payments for Utility Services obviously has had the most inflows so far this year with $3.3 billion, followed by Ethereum ETH -3.84% Ethereum / USD ETHUSD $ 3,892.59
-$149.48-3.84% Volume 42.42 b Change -$149.48 Open $3,892.59 Circulating 115.88 m Market Cap 451.09 b 20 h Diginex's Crypto Custodial Arm Digivault Bags Approval From UK FCA 20 h Square CFO: “No Plans” to Buy More Bitcoin At This Time After Losing $20M Due to Price Drop 22 h Ether Flippining Bitcoin a Real Possibility But What’s the Caveat at $731 million, the asset manager’s data shows.

Crypto assets under management have also soared to a peak of $55.8 billion, up from $37.6 billion last year.

Grayscale, the world’s largest digital asset manager, has $43.73 billion in assets. CoinShares, the second biggest, along with the other five digital asset managers, are overseeing $5 billion in assets.

Meanwhile, passive funds have an AUM of $54.1 billion, compared with $786 million for those with active strategies.

MAJOR NEWS bullish for #bitcoin.

NYDIG is the company handling the bitcoin purchases for most of the large corporations who are buying it.

NYDIG's CEO says the large corps who are buying bitcoin will be making major related announcements within days.

See link in next tweet.

— former BTC skeptic (switched to logarithmic scale) (@c1tpyrc) March 16, 2021

Just this week, billionaire value investor Howard Marks shared his changed views on Bitcoin, which were “very dismissive” in 2017 due to lack of intrinsic value in the crypto asset. But now, he noted how, unlike the US dollar, Bitcoin by design is limited.

“With the entire world looking for a store of value to replace bonds, gold, stocks, ETFs, real estate, & cash, it is inevitable that more & more successful investors like Howard Marks are going to discover, research, & embrace Bitcoin,” commented BTC bull Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy.

Beware of Fed Chair

As for the retail participants, as we reported, they are outpacing the institutions this quarter, unlike the Q4 of 2020.

On-chain data also reveals that the number of new users on the blockchain is currently 35,000 per day. This could mean “exchanges are adopting an additional ~100,000 users per day right now,” stated on-chain analyst Willy Woo.

Source: Glassnode

Amidst all this, the BTC price continues to feel some weakness this week after hitting a new ATH at just about $62,000 this past weekend before falling to $53,300 on Monday on the back of the recycled FUD of India banning crypto despite the finance minister of the country refuting any such claims.

“As bitcoin moves into the mainstream and captures greater attention, it will likely draw further scrutiny from regulators in the United States and Asia,” said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. “The potential for more scrutiny and tighter regulation remains the biggest headwind for bitcoin.”

In the short-term, the billions of stimulus checks that hit big banks on Wednesday are bullish signs.

Pisspoor retail sales numbers. More stimulus confirmed. https://t.co/Zaap6nlJBw

— Mati Greenspan (tweets ≠ financial advice) (@MatiGreenspan) March 16, 2021

As of writing, we are trading just below $55k ahead of the conclusion of the two-day policy meeting of the FOMC on Wednesday.

While Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has promised to maintain aggressive support of the U.S. economy, if he doesn’t, the markets could tank pretty badly, and Bitcoin, whose correlation with the stock market has been high since February, will fall in tandem, taking the entire crypto market down with it.

“The market wants the SLR extended and reassurances regarding yields. If the SLR doesn't get extended and Powell plays rising yields down, turmoil in rates would ensue, pushing other markets down,” said trader and economist Alex Kruger.