Goldman Sachs on the scooping up of crypto by institutions in 2023

<p>Goldman Sachs popped out a report last week in which they argued that 2023 was the year the cryptocurrency markets evolved further and were adopted by institutions:</p><ul><li>“The institutionalization of the market was most evident in the derivatives market”, with the growth of trading interest and volumes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) </li><li>“CME saw a consistent increase in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) futures and options trading, and in Q4 has become the top BTC futures exchange by open interest.”</li></ul><p>This, says GS, is a marked change from previously, when cryptocurrency markets were dominated by unregulated trading venues and retail investor activity. </p><p>On price activity, GS noted a flat first nine months of 2023 but a surge in activity and price action driven by institutional investors positioning for a potential spot BTC ETF approval. Flows were notable into existing exchange-traded products (ETPs) and futures ETFs.</p><p>***</p><p>I think GS missed this as a big impact also, which buibbled away in the background from about mid-year:</p><ul><li><a href="https://www.forexlive.com/Cryptocurrency/heres-why-crypto-analysts-tip-btcusd-at-us50000-next-year-spoiler-halving-coming-20230424/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Bitcoin, rising in price to over USD50K due to a 'halvening' (some call it 'halving')</a></li></ul>

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.