BTC Bull Run Unlikely Without Retail Investors!

According to Ki Young Ju, Bitcoin retail investor demand is at a three-year low.

Danielle du Toit
July 19, 2024

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Multiple metrics indicate that retail interest in Bitcoin is steadily declining, which could put a big BTC bull run out of reach.

Bitcoin retail investor demand is at a three-year low, according to CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju.
Analysts and traders believe major Bitcoin price rallies rely heavily on retail investor interest, but massive buying volume from retail investors has not been seen yet.
Search interest for "Bitcoin" has also dropped by 44% in the months since the Bitcoin halving and is down almost 57% since Bitcoin hit its new all-time high in March.

Ripple’s XRP has overtaken Bitcoin as the most traded cryptocurrency on major South Korean exchanges.

XRP’s trading volume hit $650 million in less than a day, more than twice as much as Bitcoin on the same platforms.
The trading volume of XRP on Upbit alone reached $526.8 million, surpassing Bitcoin’s total volume across all South Korean exchanges.
This trading volume dominance for XRP is the first since July last year, which coincided with a peak price surge after a favorable regulatory decision in Ripple’s case with the SEC.

Grayscale announced a sponsor fee of 2.5% for its proposed spot Ethereum ETF.

Grayscale’s much higher fee compared to its competitors has attracted a lot of criticism from analysts and industry experts.
Despite challenges with its spot Bitcoin ETF, Grayscale is still very confident in its brand by setting fees ten times higher than those of firms like Franklin Templeton, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, Bitwise, and 21 Shares, which have fees close to 0.25%.
Senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas and ETFStore president Nate Geraci suggest that Grayscale’s high fee could result in outflows from its Ethereum Trust (ETHE), which will be converted into a spot Ethereum ETF.

Tornado Cash has seen a surprising uptick in deposit volume in the first half of 2024.

Tornado Cash received $1.9 billion in deposits in the first six months of this year, a 50% increase from the total deposits in 2023.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash in August of 2022 after the North Korean hacking group Lazarus used it to launder about $455 million in illicit funds.
Despite these sanctions, Tornado Cash is still very popular among large hacking groups for obscuring the flow of stolen funds.

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