Estimated data shows that Grayscale and Square’s Cash App bought 52% of the total bitcoin minted in the first quarter of 2020. With the halving only four days away, many speculate that large retail and institutional investors could be looking to reap the benefits of the halving-related rally.
Grayscale and Cash App Are Hungry for BTC
The block reward halving for bitcoin (BTC) is in four days and miners and crypto businesses have been thoroughly preparing for the event.
A recent post on Twitter by crypto trader-cum-investor Alistair Milne shows that digital assets manager Grayscale and Square’s Cash App (online payments and banking app) bought 52.56% of all the bitcoin that was mined in the first three months of 2020.
A breakdown of data shows that Grayscale purchased 29.41% of the newly minted BTC in Q1 2020, while Square’s Cash App bought 23.15%.
Retail and Institutional Interest in Bitcoin is Surging Ahead of Halving
Institutional and retail investors alike have been slowly accumulating BTC in anticipation of the halving. Besides the growing volumes recorded by Grayscale and Cash App, Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz recently revealed that a bevy of new investors are flocking to bitcoin, including hedge funds.
Moreover, open positions on CME’s bitcoin futures are skyrocketing. According to data from crypto derivatives analysis firm Skew, open interest, or rather the value of outstanding derivative contracts that are yet to be settled on CME soared to an all-time high of $399 million on May 7.
CME open interest is typically deemed as an indication of institutional participation in the bitcoin market. The spike witnessed in trading volumes suggests that these investors are ultra bullish going into the halving on May 12.
BTC is exchanging hands at $9,474.76 at the time of publication, representing a 1.84% gain on the day. The strong move above $9.4K raises the possibility of breaking above $10,000 in the coming days.
