Those spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in January sparked institutional interest, really signaling a new era for Bitcoin as a mainstream investment asset. Anthony Scaramucci from SkyBridge Capital shared in a recent interview with CNBC that regulatory acceptance is key for large companies to start including Bitcoin in their portfolios. This is really turning around and probably revolutionary for the price and the credibility of the cryptocurrency in financial circles.

Though that change is now coming fast, led by the financial behemoths, skepticism existed at first due to the hedge against inflation and the use of Bitcoin as a future transactional currency. Scaramucci claims growing acceptance of the asset by firms that previously shied away, maintaining his normally positive demeanor since SkyBridge’s Bitcoin exposure in 2020.

The debate continues around what will become of Bitcoin, with people like Michael Saylor preaching its potential as a universal currency. Such a debate brings to the fore the growing belief that Bitcoin can be a tool that reshapes financial landscapes away from traditional central banking systems in favor of more decentralized solutions.

CNBC

“Ponzi scheme” has become a byword for all manner of financial frauds and monetary scams. When a rapid six month collapse erased $2T (trillion) from crypto market capitalization in 2022, mainstream media outlets were quick to again label cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ponzi schemes.

Writing in the Chinese People’s Daily online edition, Shan Zhiguang and He Yifan, representing the Chinese Blockchain-based Services Network (BSN), claimed:

Ever since Satoshi Nakamoto released “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System” in 2008, leading to the official birth of Bitcoin, the debate surrounding virtual currency (Cryptocurrency) has never stopped for a moment. [. . .] In its essence,…

Read more on BitcoinMagazine

Nearly 1,000 professional firms have reported owning U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, more than have ever reported owning gold ETFs. This number attests to a significant shift by institutional investors toward cryptocurrency. And once again, a big part of this is thanks to Bitwise, which shows growing belief in digital currencies as good investments by the growing financial sector.

The first quarter also saw that professional investors hold an insane $11.06 billion in Bitcoin ETFs, comprising 18.7% of the total assets under management. While most of these assets are owned by the retail investor, the scale of institutional investment is just huge. It is indicative of growing belief and interest on the part of veteran financial entities.

And topping this list in terms of such interest from institutions were the ARKB and HODL ETFs, which received large allocations from ARK and VanEck. These are now some of the prime examples of how strategic institutional support is driving the adoption and, in turn, the value of such investment products based on cryptocurrency.

Data

MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor took to social media to celebrate the fact that the Senate has chosen to ignore the SEC’s controversial SAB 121. “Wall Street, the House, and now the Senate are in favor of Bitcoin,” he wrote. The Senate has rejected a recent decision of the SEC, named the SAB 121, by a bipartisan vote of 60 to 38. The bulletin aimed to make banks holding crypto assets list them as liabilities. According to critics, it put an unreasonable amount of capital to be held against the owned assets. This has thus been taken as a landmark victory of the major stakeholders—among them, the Digital Chamber and Compound Labs’ Robert Leshner—in the legislative space for the viability and sustainability of the crypto world. The cryptocurrency community perceives this decision as a step in the right direction regarding regulation changes, as it will now make such custodial arrangements more viable and therefore secure the rights of the holders of these digital assets.

Twitter