Bitcoin price can hit $20K when US banks invest 1% of assets — Analyst

The increasing institutional interest in Bitcoin is “not hard to see” as U.S. regulators green light custody this week.

Bitcoin (BTC) will pass $20,000 if United States banks invest even 1% of their assets, one analyst believes.

Discussing institutional uptake of Bitcoin on July 23, Capriole digital asset manager Charles Edwards said that it was “not hard to see” the unfolding trend.

“Not hard to see where this is going”

“If US banks put just 1% of their assets into Bitcoin as an investment, hedge or insurance… the Bitcoin price more than doubles,” he wrote on Twitter, adding:

“Just 1 NASDAQ stock (Grayscale) already owns 2% of circulating Bitcoin supply today. It's not hard to see where this is going.”

Edwards uploaded a chart of U.S. banks’ burgeoning asset balances as proof of the potential impact that a lean towards BTC would have on the largest cryptocurrency.

Grayscale, as Cointelegraph reported, is now a giant among Bitcoin hodlers, together with payment company Square responsible for buying up the majority of mined coins this year.

US bank asset balances chart, Source: Charles Edwards/ Twitter

Institutions quietly pile into BTC

Edwards’ comments are meanwhile timely. This week, U.S. lenders received the green light from regulators to engage in cryptocurrency custody activities.

Whether an influx from the sector would ultimately benefit Bitcoin as an asset remains a contentious topic. Previously, concerns circulated that institutional attention in the form of products such as a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) would be detrimental to price discovery.

“It's not a matter of good or bad, it's just a fact,” Edwards added.

Nonetheless, other recent moves only serve to reinforce the market’s upward trajectory. Paul Tudor Jones, the maverick investor who has become increasingly bullish on Bitcoin, recently revealed that he had already put as much as 2% of his wealth in BTC.