Over the past five days, Bitcoin (BTC), the leading cryptocurrency, has experienced a period of increased volatility, prompting significant liquidations of leveraged positions as its price fluctuated wildly within hours.
After hitting an all-time high of $73,750 on Thursday, BTC saw a sharp drop to $64,600 on Sunday. On Monday, at the start of the trading week, the cryptocurrency reclaimed the $68,000 level. However, it retreated more than 2% shortly after, settling around the $66,800 mark.
Amid this turbulent market activity, Binance CEO Richard Teng, as reported by Bloomberg, believes that Bitcoin’s record rally will persist, driving its price past $80,000.
Binance CEO Optimistic About Bitcoin
Teng attributes this expected rise to the growing influx of institutional investment into the newly approved Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which have been trading for just over two months.
The introduction of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States earlier this year has attracted significant attention from institutional investors, leading to new inflows. Speaking at an event in Bangkok on Sunday, Teng stated that he originally estimated Bitcoin would be around $80,000 by the end of the year.
However, he now expects the cryptocurrency to surpass that milestone due to reduced supply and sustained demand. Teng emphasized that his forecast represents his point of view and acknowledged that the rebound will not be linear. He believes that the ups and downs of the market will ultimately benefit the entire ecosystem.
Lastly, Teng highlighted the continued inflow of funds into US Spot Bitcoin ETFs since their approval in January. He expects more institutions and family offices to increase their allocations to Bitcoin ETFs soon.
Richard Teng took over as CEO after Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) resigned in November following Binance’s $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities.
Digital Asset Inflows Soar
In a recent blog post, digital asset investment company CoinShares announced that digital asset investment products experienced a record weekly inflow, reaching $2.9 billion last week. This surpasses the all-time high of $2.7 billion set the previous week.
Additionally, these entries bring the year-to-date total to an impressive $13.2 billion, surpassing the total entries for all of 2021, which was $10.6 billion.
Trading volumes for the week totaled $43 billion, matching the previous week’s record and representing 47% of total global Bitcoin volume. During this period, global exchange-traded products (ETPs) crossed the $100 billion mark for the first time.
However, due to the price correction towards the end of the week, the total stood at $97 billion. Regionally, the United States witnessed substantial inflows of $2.95 billion, while smaller inflows were seen in Australia, Brazil and Hong Kong, worth $5 million, $24 million and $15 million respectively. By contrast, Canada, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland experienced combined outflows of $78 million during the same week.
On the other hand, so far this year there have been capital outflows worth 685 million dollars. Bitcoin dominated inflows last week, securing $2.86 billion and accounting for 97% of all inflows so far this year.
Interestingly, Bitcoin short positions recorded their largest inflows in a year, totaling $26 million, marking the fifth consecutive week of highest interest in this area.
At the end of the Coinbase Premium Gap positive streak, Bitcoin had been able to reach a new all-time high above $73,800, but as traders shifted to selling on the platform, the coin fell almost 9% and its price is now trading around $67,300.
By Leonardo Perez
