One of the best metrics to show that crypto is going mainstream is the level of activity on exchanges. The latest data shows that this is happening at an exponential magnitude. According to crypto market analyst Willy Woo, crypto exchanges have experienced a surge of over 350k users every day. This means that across the major exchanges, there are over 100k new users onboarding every day.
Pink line: The number of new users seen on the blockchain per day. (30d MA)
35,000 new users per day arriving on-chain. Which means exchanges are likely adopting an additional ~100,000 users per day right now. pic.twitter.com/hMYZtGSfqW
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) March 17, 2021
Data taken from Glassnode shows that the increase in crypto usage has been rising since 2020, when the current rally picked momentum. It is a similar surge that happened in 2017 when Bitcoin hit a high of $20k. However, unlike in 2017, when primarily retail investors led the rally, the current surge in user growth is also linked to institutional investors.
Since the market rally started, the number of institutional players in crypto has grown quite significantly. Data on institutional investments in crypto shows that the level of crypto investments has shot up from $37 billion to $55 billion year-to-date. Interestingly, big names like Grayscale Investments lead the institutional rush to get into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
It is also noteworthy that institutional players are not just getting into crypto. They are also very bullish on it. JP Morgan, one of the world’s most recognized institutional players, has a price target of $146k on Bitcoin. Others have even more ambitious price targets. Citibank says that it expects Bitcoin to hit $300k by 2023. All this points to a market that is at the crisp of mainstream adoption.
