Institutional investors invested heavily in the first quarter! Grayscale Capital and Square bought 52% of newly mined Bitcoin

Editor’s note: The original title was “Fearing to miss out on the halving, Square and Grayscale bought more than half of the newly mined Bitcoin in the first quarter”

According to a report by Zycrypto on May 8, Grayscale and Square’s Cash App purchased 52% of the total amount of newly mined Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2020. With the halving only four days away, many speculate that large retail and institutional investors may be optimistic about the positive impact of the halving on the price of the currency and hope to benefit from it.

Grayscale and Square’s Cash App Buy Bitcoin in Huge Quantities

In four days, Bitcoin’s block reward will be halved, and miners and cryptocurrency companies are already preparing for this halving.

A recent post on Twitter by cryptocurrency trader and investor Alistair Milne revealed that digital asset manager Grayscale and Square’s Cash App (online payment and banking app) purchased 52.56% of newly mined Bitcoin in the first three months of 2020.

Data analysis shows that Grayscale purchased 29.41% of newly mined Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2020, while Square’s Cash App purchased 23.15%.

If two entities have already purchased 52% of all newly mined Bitcoins, what will happen with the halving less than 5 days away?

Retail and institutional interest in Bitcoin is surging ahead of halving

Institutional and retail investors are slowly hoarding coins as they are optimistic about the price of the currency rising after the halving. In addition to the growing trading volume of Grayscale and Cash App, Mike Novogratz, the founder of Digital Galaxy, recently revealed that a group of investors including hedge funds are flocking to Bitcoin.

In addition, open interest in Bitcoin futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is also surging. According to data from cryptocurrency derivatives analysis firm Skew, open interest in CME Bitcoin futures surged to an all-time high of $399 million on May 7.

Ahead of the halving, open interest in CME Bitcoin futures increased rapidly.

CME’s open interest is often viewed as a proxy for institutional participation in the Bitcoin market. The surge in trading volume suggests that these investors are extremely bullish on a rise in Bitcoin prices after the halving.