BTC Price Below $70K Presents Institutions a 'Fresh Opportunity': Bitwise CEO
The leading cryptocurrency has entered bearish territory and is being "swept up" alongside other macro assets, according to Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley in a recent TV appearance.
The recent descent of Bitcoin beneath the $70,000 threshold is eliciting vastly different reactions from veteran holders versus institutional market participants, as outlined by Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise.
"I think long-time holders are feeling unsure, and I think the new investor set, institutions are sort of getting a new crack at the apple," Horsley said during an interview with CNBC on Friday. According to Horsley, institutional market participants are "seeing prices they thought that they'd forever missed."
Just last October, Geoff Kendrick, who serves as Standard Chartered's head of digital asset research, stated his expectation that Bitcoin would not drop beneath the $100,000 level again.
Bitcoin "getting swept up" with the rest of macro
Horsley conceded that the timing of Bitcoin's (BTC) latest downturn is particularly striking, occurring during a period marked by increased efforts to establish regulatory clarity and mounting interest from institutional players. The flagship cryptocurrency has declined 22.60% throughout the previous 30 days, currently changing hands at $69,635 as of press time, based on data from CoinMarketCap.
According to Horsley, Bitcoin has entered a bear market and is "getting swept up" with the rest of the macroassets as market participants are "selling everything that is liquid."
"In the present moment, it is mostly trading with other liquid assets," he said.
The precious metal gold has subsequently dropped 11.43% from its record peak of $5,609 reached on Jan. 28, currently trading at $4,968 as of press time, per Trading Economics data.
At the same time, Silver has experienced a 35.95% decline from its record high of $121.67 achieved on Jan. 29, currently priced at $77.98 at the time of publication.
Horsley points to strong inflows from institutions
According to Horsley, appetite for Bitcoin continues to demonstrate strength, with particular emphasis coming from institutional market participants.
The Bitwise executive revealed that his firm oversees more than $15 billion in institutional capital and recorded over $100 million in net inflows on Monday alone, at a time when Bitcoin was hovering around the $77,000 mark.
"There's a lot of volume, and there are sellers and buyers," Horsley said.
Interest among everyday retail investors has similarly experienced a notable surge. Data from Google Trends indicates that global searches for "Bitcoin" achieved a perfect score of 100 during the week commencing Feb. 1, marking the highest point throughout the past 12 months, coinciding with the price dropping to $60,000 on Tuesday, a price point last observed in October 2024.
In related developments, BlackRock's spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) recorded $231.6 million in net inflows on Friday, marking a reversal following two consecutive days of substantial outflows during what proved to be a volatile week for the digital asset.