Bitcoin Returns to Form at $2.7bn Weekly ETPs, Overtakes Amazon

The crypto market saw a strong rally last week, with Bitcoin leading the charge in the exchange-traded products recovery. Bitcoin alone saw $2.7 billion in inflows, accounting for 73% of the total crypto ETP investments. Overall, according to data released by CoinShares, the crypto investment sector attracted $3.7 billion in inflows, pushing total assets to a new high of $211 billion.

Bitcoin’s strong performance last week represents a marked improvement from the previous week, when BTC inflows totaled at just $790, following three months of averaging $1.5 billion. This resounding rebound drove the crypto ETPs’ year-to-date (YTD) inflows to a record high of $22.7 billion, and pinned BTC’s market capitalization over Amazon’s.

Elsewhere, Ether had its 12th consecutive inflows week to score $990 million, while XRP put up its strongest weekly performance to date with $104 million in inflows.

Bitcoin Overtakes Amazon

In the same breath, Bitcoin’s latest surge outpaced Silicon Valley giants to become the world’s fifth-largest global asset. It overtook Amazon by a full $100 billion—$2.4 trillion compared to Amazon’s $2.3 trillion— which meant that Silver’s $2.2 trillion and Alphabet’s (Google) $2.19 trillion market cap were no match for the new kid on the global financial block. This global landmark event carries a heft that’s not purely symbolic. Rather, it shifts BTC away from being the engine of the speculative hype train to become a serious contender in the global asset pool.

The next on BTC’s hit list is Apple, which leads the way by some $730 billion, but lacks the kind of continued institutional accumulation and macroeconomic environment incentives that Bitcoin does. Nor does Microsoft, another feasible target for BTC. Indeed, if the Bitcoin price rises to $167,000, which “isn’t outside the realm of possibility, considering the massive demand coming from spot Bitcoin ETFs,” according to Emmanuel Cardozo of Brickken, Bitcoin could crack the top 3 by the end of this year or next.

Nakamoto the World’s 11th Richest Person

Bitcoin’s recent surge did well for its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who climbed the Forbes billionaires list to claim the 11th spot. At least in theory, because Nakamoto’s BTC depository is only hinted to be 1.096 million BTC ($131 billion at current prices), by far the largest of any individual on the globe.

At the time of writing, this puts Nakamoto smack between Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies, and Jensen Huang, the founder of Nvidia. To surpass Musk as the top dog, according to our calculator below, Bitcoin will need to spike by at least 200% overnight.

Bucking the Overall Trend

Last week might prove to be one of the most substantial periods of the year, as it marked a comeback from slow, tepid on-chain activity to a momentous surge in institutional confidence. Many wallets sat idle during May and June, and some analysts went so far as to claim that Bitcoin had lost its luster as the gold standard cryptocurrency.

But then the surge took on, and now the opposing analysts claim that this was not merely a bounce, but a statement of intent. They might have a stronger case, considering that institutional adoption of BTC is also at an all-time high, with over 265 companies catching up with Bitcoin casino players and holding their assets on-chain. That’s almost double what it was only a few months ago.

Either way, it mustn’t slip the mind just how volatile and cycle-bound the digital market is. While strong ETP numbers and Silicon Valley kickabout are all positive signals and point to the market where BTC is able to attract both retail and institutional investors, erring on the side of caution remains the way to go.