The four most famous international exchanges:

Binance INTL	OKX INTL	Gate.io INTL	Huobi INTL
China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL

Note: The above exchange logo is the official website registration link, and the text is the APP download link.

Volatility in the Bitcoin market has scared away new institutional investors, but at the same time, older institutional investors have continued to buy when Bitcoin falls. Due to the ongoing upward trend, many well-known institutions from the traditional financial field are trying to join the cryptocurrency bandwagon to avoid missing out on the continued rise. First, Bitcoin futures have seen significant growth in both open interest and trading volume over the past few months. While this may be expected, what may come as a surprise is that global derivatives exchange Chicago Mercantile Exchange recently became the largest Bitcoin futures trading platform in the world.

In this regard, data released by encryption analysis platform Bybt shows that of the $13 billion in open positions in Bitcoin futures, CME accounts for $2.4 billion, followed by crypto exchanges with $2.17 billion, ahead of, and Bybit and other well-known exchanges.

It should be no secret that the meteoric rise of Bitcoin (BTC) since December 2020 has increasingly attracted the attention of investors around the world. To put this in perspective, although Bitcoin recently fell to just below the $32,000 mark, its price has risen again to over $38,000, resulting in a net 30-day return of approximately 95%.

Is institutional interest increasing, or is it stagnant?

The recent volatility has raised concerns about the sustainability of the current bull market and raised questions about whether institutional investor interest in Bitcoin is starting to level off. Konstantin, Executive Director of UK-based CEX.IO
Anissimov told Cointelegraph that it is important for new entrants to realize that the game is not simply about institutions entering the market, but rather that they see the risk reduced.

"Unless something truly extreme happens that changes the entire market on its head - and I have a hard time imagining something that bad happening - I believe more large companies will continue to invest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the future."

Quinten, host of the YouTube channel "Young and Investing"
Francois believes that most institutions that want a piece of the pie are probably already on board. He added that during a parabolic rise like this, it's hard to imagine more big-name money players entering the space, at least until things stabilize by the end of the year.

Having said that, he added that most institutions entering the crypto market now are likely to buy on dips, and when they stop, retail money will slowly flow back into the market, further pushing up Bitcoin's value : “They are connoisseurs, they know what they are doing, and they don’t buy in the parabolic phase.”

Jonathan, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange BTSE
Leong told Cointelegraph that “institutional inflows into the cryptocurrency market have just begun.” He further added: “The price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rose rapidly in the fourth quarter, which is directly related to institutional inflows or expectations of such inflows. relation."

Do institutions reduce market volatility?

There is no denying that Bitcoin is a more mature asset than it was during the bear market phase of 2018, especially as regulation in some jurisdictions has made significant progress. In addition, the crypto market now has a large number of professional trading institutions and non-crypto companies participating.

These factors go a long way toward curbing Bitcoin’s volatility and improving its liquidity as an investment asset. Anissimov believes that “institutional investors are not the key to driving the Bitcoin bull market, but they use them to regulate the market as a whole, making the crypto market more stable and efficient.”

That said, if established institutions enter the crypto industry, they will have an impact on the price movements of most cryptocurrencies. In the end, this could help the industry as a whole, especially considering that most traditional financial players will be committed to long-term trading, which could help protect Bitcoin from a crash similar to 2018.

Recent moves worth noting

Earlier this month, CoinShares, a European company engaged in crypto finance and exchange-traded products, announced that it had successfully moved over $202 million in XBT on the first day of 2021
Provider series product transactions. It’s worth mentioning that this provider of trading notes has received approval from the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, and the company’s products are currently available for purchase through Nasdaq.

In addition, according to the "Digital Asset Fund Weekly Report" released by CoinShares on January 11, as of January 8, US$34.5 billion had been invested in crypto investment products, of which US$27.5 billion (80%) was invested in Bitcoin funds. There is $4.7 billion (about 13%) invested in Ethereum (ETH) products.

Comparing the performance of Bitcoin funds during this bull run to that of 2017, the report states: “We have seen significantly higher investor participation this round, with net new assets reaching $8.2 billion, while It was only $534 million in December 2017.”

Additionally, last year, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said in a landmark decision that U.S. national banks can custody crypto assets. This announcement was followed by another major development from the OCC, which revealed that U.S. banks could even provide services to stablecoin issuers, such as holding reserves.

Although some traditional institutions have indulged in this practice ahead of the above decision, there is uncertainty in this area due to lack of legal clarity. Now, officials have made it clear that stablecoins backed one-to-one with fiat currencies held in bank reserves are not considered a risk in the United States.