Bitcoin under $70K gives institutions a ‘new crack of the apple’: Bitwise CEO

Bitcoin’s drop below $70,000 is being seen very differently by long-time holders and institutional investors, according to Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley.

“I think long-time holders are feeling unsure, and I think the new investor set, institutions are sort of getting a new crack at the apple,” Horsley said during an interview with CNBC on Friday. Horsley said that institutional buyers are “seeing prices they thought that they’d forever missed.”

It was only in October that Standard Chartered’s head of digital asset research, Geoff Kendrick, said he doesn’t expect Bitcoin to fall below $100,000 again.

Bitcoin “getting swept up” with the rest of macro

Horsley acknowledged that Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent plunge comes at an unusual time, given the ramp-up in efforts toward regulatory clarity and growing institutional interest. Bitcoin is down 22.60% over the past 30 days, trading at $69,635 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap.

Horsley said that Bitcoin is in a bear market and is “getting swept up” with the rest of the macroassets as investors are “selling everything that is liquid.”

“In the present moment, it is mostly trading with other liquid assets,” he said.

Hunter Horsley spoke to CNBC on Friday. Source: CNBC

Gold has since fallen 11.43% from its all-time high of $5,609, which it reached on Jan. 28, trading at $4,968 at the time of publication, according to Trading Economics.

Meanwhile, Silver has fallen 35.95% from its all-time high of $121.67, which it reached on Jan. 29, trading at $77.98 at the time of publication.

Horsley points to strong inflows from institutions

Horsley said demand for Bitcoin remains strong, particularly from institutional investors.

He said that Bitwise manages over $15 billion in institutional funds and saw more than $100 million in inflows on Monday alone, when Bitcoin was trading around $77,000.

Related: Bitcoin difficulty drops by over 11%, sharpest drop since 2021 China ban

“There’s a lot of volume, and there are sellers and buyers,” Horsley said.

Curiosity among retail investors has also spiked. Google Trends data shows worldwide searches for “Bitcoin” reached a score of 100 for the week starting Feb. 1, the highest level in the past 12 months, as the price fell to $60,000 on Tuesday, a level not seen since October 2024.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) saw $231.6 million in inflows on Friday, following two days of heavy outflows during the turbulent week for the asset.

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