The blockchain intelligence company Chainalysis is diving into the fundamentals behind Bitcoin’s 2020 bull run.
In a new market intelligence report, the company says there are about 14.8 million Bitcoin in circulation, if you subtract the amount of BTC that people have lost access to over the years. That leaves 3.7 million Bitcoin worth about $66.5 billion that is forever lost and will remain unavailable to new buyers.
About 77% of the 14.8 million has been locked up for five years or more, meaning there is 3.4 million BTC available for purchase amid growing demand from investors with deep pockets.
“The institutional move into cryptocurrency appears to be driven by a desire to hedge against macroeconomic uncertainty, which of course hasn’t been in short supply this year…
The data bears out this institutional investment story as well. For one, we’re seeing an increase in high value transfers sent from exchanges in 2020.”
Chainalysis says the number of transfers of $1 million in BTC or more from crypto exchanges to private wallets is 19% higher than in 2017 at the height of the last major bull cycle.This increase in exchange-to-wallet transfers indicates that those buying BTC have more money to spend.
For Bitcoin to continue surging in the long run, Chainalysis says the leading cryptocurrency will have to prove it’s similar to gold and can provide a hedge against economic uncertainty.
“A comparison of this bull run to that of 2017 suggests that investors have become savvier and more strategic, buying Bitcoin to fulfill a specific use case rather than to speculate on the new hot asset. If Bitcoin can continue to be an effective hedge against macroeconomic trends, we believe more and more institutional investors will put money into the asset, leading to even more mainstream adoption.”
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