The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has skyrocketed, reaching new record highs above $72,000. This surge comes after a week of unprecedented inflows into crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs). According to CoinShares analyst James Butterfill, crypto investment products received a remarkable $2.7 billion worth of inflows by March 8. In fact, year-to-date crypto ETPs have already generated $10.3 billion in inflows, almost matching the total of $10.6 billion seen throughout all of 2021.
Bitcoin is the main contributor to this significant figure, with $2.6 billion in inflows year-to-date. Currently, it represents 14% of the total crypto-related assets under management (AUM) worldwide. On March 11, the price of Bitcoin reached a new all-time high of $72,900, although it has since stabilized around $72,000. This represents a 6.9% increase over the past week and a 29% increase over the past month, according to TradingView data.
The influx of funds into crypto ETPs has been largely driven by the growing investment in recently approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. These ETFs have now accumulated over $110 billion in total trading volume since their launch on January 11. Analyst James Seyffart from Bloomberg noted that a total of five U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs now hold more than $2 billion in assets under management (AUM), with Bitwise’s BITB fund being the latest addition to this group. Seyffart added that out of the approximately 3,500 U.S. ETPs, only 445 have over $2 billion in assets.
In a note from IG market analyst Tony Sycamore, he predicted that the current rally could push Bitcoin’s price towards $80,000 in the coming months. He also stated that the cryptocurrency would be well supported in case of any potential dips. Mikkel Mørch, founder of digital asset investment fund ARK36, mentioned that Bitcoin’s new all-time high coincided with the London Stock Exchange accepting Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) exchange-traded notes. Additionally, there is an increased willingness from the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority to accept new crypto-related financial products. Mørch sees these factors, along with the growing regulatory acceptance of crypto assets globally, the upcoming halving event, and the continued growth of Bitcoin ETF inflows, as indicators of a new era of growth and mainstream adoption for cryptocurrencies.