Bitcoin provide squeeze heats up as Grayscale buys almost 3x the BTC mined in December

Institutional crypto funding big Grayscale now has $20 billion below its management as its Bitcoin (BTC) buys outstrip manufacturing by nearly three to 1.

As famous by knowledge evaluation useful resource Coin98 Analytics on Jan. 1, Grayscale purchased nearly thrice extra BTC than that which was added to the market in December 2020.

It is official: Miners cannot produce sufficient Bitcoin

Final month, the corporate added a complete of 72,950 BTC ($2.132 billion) to its belongings below administration (AUM). Throughout the identical interval, miners generated simply 28,112 BTC ($821.7 million) — 38.5% of Grayscale’s buy-in.

The figures underscore what many have described as an ongoing liquidity squeeze in Bitcoin, the place giant consumers suck up any obtainable provide and take away it from circulation, sending it to chilly storage for long-term hodling.

As Cointelegraph reported, the phenomenon was already seen in November, however December noticed a transparent enhance in demand from Grayscale and different institutional entities.

Grayscale now controls $20 billion in crypto

Because the clock chimed midnight on New Yr’s Eve, in the meantime, Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert celebrated bringing the corporate’s complete AUM throughout its numerous crypto funds to over $20 billion. Only one yr in the past, the determine stood at a mere $2 billion.

The corporate stays the biggest institutional participant on the Bitcoin scene, with its $17.475 billion in BTC far outstripping every other market participant. Newcomer MicroStrategy, whereas not an funding enterprise, now controls 70,470 BTC ($2.06 billion).

Going ahead, analysts predict that extra demand for the fastened provide of “new” bitcoins from miners will solely serve to create a bidding battle and push up the value. Sellers already confronted stiff resolve from consumers in December, when new all-time highs failed to supply important long-lasting pullbacks.