Like a restrained horse that is about to run fast, the global Bitcoin price has been monitored to surge at the US $ 11k.
This $11,349.92 USD with a 24-hour trading volume of $22,616,335,127 USD. Bitcoin is up 2.47% in the last 24 hours.
The excitement of Bitcoin was also followed by positive sentiment towards other crypto assets, such as Ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cordano (ADA), and other Altcoin.
ETH has accelerated by 2.55% in the last 24 hours. Ripple followed below with 2.03%. Meanwhile, BCH is confident at 0.99%. Whereas Cordano in 9 places, get skyrocket to 10.01% in the last 24 hours.
Square Effect and Stimulus US $ 1.8 Trillion
The strengthening of Bitcoin prices during the last two days was at least driven by Square's decision to buy Bitcoin in a large enough amount, which is the equivalent of US $ 50 million.
The company led by the founder of Twitter bought Bitcoin on October 7, 2020, through an Over the Counter (OTC) mechanism and only announced it the day after.
In addition, there were rumors that Trump had approved a US $ 1.8 trillion stimulus program for US citizens. The program will increase citizen consumption, in addition to the potential to divert the US dollar to other assets, including Bitcoin.
However, the realization of the program is not yet clear, because it has to go through tough lobbying in the Senate, against the Democratic party, Trump's rival.
Even Trump has previously sparked even more attention, as he intends to roll out a stimulus fund larger than the US $ 2.2 trillion, as proposed by the Democrats.
Returning to investment by Square, the amount is not big enough compared to the MicroStrategy company in August and September 2020.
The public company led by Michael Saylor bought Bitcoin on August 11, 2020. Then on September 14, 2020, as many as 6,796 BTC.
Despite the different amounts of Bitcoin purchased, the two companies have similar motives, namely to secure their finances due to uncertain economic conditions, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Square, for example, claims the Bitcoin it bought is equivalent to 1 percent of the company's total financial assets.
The other entities behind MicroStrategy are also in the center of attention. Those who own shares in the company are deemed to have contributed to the equivalent of Bitcoin in MicroStrategy.
These include the Norwegian Government Pension Fund (Oil Fund), BlackRock Fund Advisors, and the Vanguard Group.
The ownership of Bitcoin is in the form of indirect ownership because the Norwegian Government through the management and pension bodies owns shares in MicroStrategy.
Arcane's research results stated that the Oil Fund has around 577.6 BTC, September 21, 2020) through stock investment in MicroStrategy.
"The investment value is equivalent to US $ 6.3 million. Oil Fund itself owns 1.51 percent of shares in MicroStrategy, "said Arcane.
Apart from the Oil Fund, there are also two other companies that own Bitcoin indirectly, namely BlackRock Fund Advisors and Vanguard Group, each of which owns 15.24 percent of shares (5829.30 BTC) and 11.72 percent (4482.90 BTC).
Bitcoin investment by institutions/companies is still very small, which is currently dominated by retail, the same as in 2017.
Based on a recent survey by Cambridge University late last month, it was revealed that Bitcoin users had risen dramatically.
Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge, UK states that currently, there are 101 million users of Bitcoin Cs (crypto asset) globally. That figure is up 189 percent compared to 2018, namely 35 million “unique users”. Users from institutions are still small.
This is stated in the 71-page “3rd Global Cryptoasset Benchmarking Study” survey report. The survey was held in March-May 2020 and the report was published a few days ago. The majority of respondents are from the Asia Pacific and European regions.
"In 2018, based on the first edition survey, the number of crypto asset users globally reached 35 million. The amount is based on verified user identities on a number of crypto-asset exchanges and similar service providers. Meanwhile, in the third survey, the number of users reached 101 million on 191 million accounts, " said Cambridge in the report.
Still Small Institutions
Meanwhile, based on user origin categories, there are not too many institutional/institutional categories. Retail users still dominate, similar to the increase in 2017.
"This shows that although the interest from institutions has grown, it has not materialized in terms of increasing users including purchases," said Cambridge.
Buying Bitcoin by well-known companies and organizations is seen as a trigger for the rise in the price of Bitcoin. This is a reflection of the awareness and confidence of many people outside retail investors and traders.
At least, what Square has done and the great support of Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey and of course MicroStrategy's move can make Bitcoin even more superior, without us knowing when it will arrive.
Great one