In a previous article I wrote last Tuesday, I noted the start of a general interest in cryptocurrency among institutional investors and holders of large amounts of capital. In this article, I left open the question of whether this would happen in the near future; this is, of course, still highly speculative. However, in recent days, there have been multiple signs that this speculativeness might just work out in the favour of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

First, the most prominent sign; billionaire investor Carl Icahn is seemingly interested in taking a gamble at Bitcoin, with him stating that he’s looking at investing in “quite a big way”. For Icahn, this is, of course, another way of saying 1.5 billion US dollars. This would not only add 0.2% to the market cap of Bitcoin (actually a fairly significant sign), other investors modelling themselves after Icahn’s holding company Icahn Enterprises; a conglomerate investment fund, might just take a greater interest in potentially adding crypto to their portfolio. 

Apart from this interest in Icahn, it seems that other companies and individuals controlling large amounts of capital are also showing interest. For instance, Larry Fink, CEO of gigantic shadow bank and investment provider BlackRock, has stated this Wednesday that it is looking into potentially investing Bitcoin directly in a similar matter to commodities like gold. Whilst he did state that volatility was a major issue that was in the way, especially considering the volatility has gone up recently, the interest does seem promising.

What the true motive behind this rise in interest is lies mostly in the potential for growth. As stated by Goldman Sachs’s head of digital assets Mathew McDermott:

There’s no doubt that ‘fear of missing out’ is playing a role given how much bitcoin and other crypto assets have appreciated and how many interested parties of all flavors have jumped into this space

This fear of missing out is what seems to be driving this increased interest by such big groups. With consumer interest already in existence, and Bitcoin’s prices having gained incredibly over the past few years as well as months, the idea that one institutional investor might start with investing in cryptocurrency as soon as possible and the rest will follow seems to be driving this interest. For the average person already invested, or potentially about to invest in cryptocurrencies, this is, of course, very exciting. After all, with large capital in the picture, rarity among with the, even if tamed, still quite volatile market, the prices will almost be bound to increase heavily.

In the end, it seems that this FOMO among institutional investments have sparked a new growth potential for cryptocurrencies in the future. With Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), albeit slowly, recovering and Uniswap (UNI) in fact having a 5.47% 7-day gain in price, it seems that the market is at least growing again. Whilst institutional investors are seemingly more precarious with their money than large capital holders such as Elon Musk or Carl Icahn, there’s a good chance we might just see a stronger growth as more investment companies start gaining more interest. I wouldn’t be surprised if, after more growth, bitcoin will go back to 60.000 like the Elon days. And frankly, I cannot wait.