In a recent note to investors, Bitwise chief investment officer Matthew Hougan predicts that institutional investors will invest over $1 trillion in cryptocurrency through ETFs, driving Bitcoin to new heights. Despite the volatility of BTC, Hougan advises investors to remain calm and take a long-term view, as he believes the wave of institutional interest will propel the top cryptocurrency to $150,000 during the current bull run. Hougan views the current inflow into Bitcoin ETFs as just the beginning, with 1% down and 99% to go. Since their launch in mid-January, Bitcoin ETFs have attracted more than $26 billion, with BlackRock leading the race by bringing in $14 billion, followed by Fidelity with inflows of over $7.5 billion. Ark and Bitwise have attracted $2.3 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively. This influx of funds is believed to have contributed to Bitcoin’s previous all-time high of nearly $74,000 two months ago. However, Hougan, an expert in ETFs, believes that there is still a significant amount of money yet to flow into Bitcoin. He anticipates that the upcoming halving on April 20 and the potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs by major US financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo for their high-net-worth clients could be game changers. Despite the short-term volatility, Hougan is confident that Bitcoin is in a long-term bull market, citing its 300% increase in the past 15 months and strong reasons to believe that this growth will continue. The approval of ETFs in January was a significant milestone for Bitcoin, as it allows sophisticated investors to include the cryptocurrency in their portfolios. Hougan points out that these institutional players control billions of dollars, and together, they estimate to hold at least $100 trillion. While it may take years for a portion of this money to flow into Bitcoin, a 1% allocation across the board could result in approximately $1 trillion of inflows into the cryptocurrency space. As of now, the $26 billion in institutional inflows has already pushed BTC from $46,000 to a new all-time high of over $73,680. Therefore, if $1 trillion were to enter the market, Bitcoin could potentially reach double that amount or more.
