Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, Managing Director, Global Market Strategy at JPMorgan, recently expressed his views about Bitcoin and highlighted the weak institutional demand for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
In an interview with Business Insider, Panigirtzoglou said that Bitcoin may have to drop below $30,000 before a surge in its institutional demand. He added that big players are not buying the latest Bitcoin dip.
"If you ask, right now, institutional investors whether $50,000 or $60,000 is looking like an attractive level for bitcoin, they will most likely say no. I fear we might need to see bitcoin moving below $30,000 for that institutional interest to pick up considerably," Panigirtzoglou told Business Insider.
The price of Bitcoin is currently down nearly 40% from its all-time high of $64,000 in April 2021. However, the latest comments from Elon Musk caused a significant jump in BTC as the world’s largest cryptocurrency jumped nearly 12% in the last 24 hours. BTC’s market dominance crossed 45% today, which is its highest level since May 2021.
Institutional Interest in Bitcoin
In a recent post on LinkedIn, Panigirtzoglou said that due to the latest crypto market correction, Bitcoin futures are shifting in backwardation for the first time since 2018. Additionally, Panigirtzoglou highlighted a drop in institutional BTC fund flows. "If I look at these bitcoin fund flows, there is no evidence here of a buying-the-dip mentality," he said. In its latest weekly digital fund flows report, CoinShares mentioned that BTC investment products saw $141 million worth of outflows during the first week of June 2021.
“The past month’s correction in crypto markets saw BTC futures shifting in backwardation for the first time since 2018. This is an unusual development and a reflection of how weak bitcoin demand is at the moment among institutional investors, who tend to use regulated CME futures contracts to gain exposure to bitcoin. When demand is particularly weak and price expectations turn bearish, the futures curve shifts into backwardation,” Panigirtzoglou explained on LinkedIn.
