Since the victory of United States President-elect Donald Trump, interest in cryptocurrency has spiked, with Bitcoin surging to all-time highs as his campaign promised to support the crypto industry.
Market observers say the spike in search interest and inflows suggest renewed interest among retail investors and a potential wave of new buyers ready to enter the crypto market.
Ryan Chow, co-founder and CEO of Bitcoin (BTC) staking platform Solv Protocol, told Cointelegraph that Trump’s victory is a “major catalyst for launching the next bull market.”
He expressed optimism about the surge in retail investors, saying:
“Bitcoin reaching an all-time high is one of the best advertisements for crypto there is.”
In previous Bitcoin bull runs, retail investors have played an important role, though they have seemed to be dormant during this cycle. Institutional investors have taken the lead, especially since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January.
Coinbase, a favored crypto exchange among retail traders, saw its stock value drop after its Q3 shareholder letter on Oct. 30 revealed lower-than-expected revenue in trading fees. The revenue hit $1.13 billion, up over 81% from the same quarter a year earlier but falling short of Wall Street analysts forecasts of $1.26 billion.
The exchange blamed it on “softer market conditions,” as a slump in retail trading was central to the poor results. During October, Bitcoin search volume on Google hit a yearly low, indicating that retail traders still hadn’t hopped onto the train of the crypto bull market.
Online payments giant PayPal reported in a SEC filing on Nov. 5 a decline in crypto held on behalf of its customers by almost 11% from the second to third quarter to about $2.17 billion in another sign of less retail crypto activity.
Crypto-macro analyst Noelle Acheson said in her Crypto is Macro Now newsletter that “retail investors, on the whole, tend to be ‘late adopters’” as they are motivated by price-related headlines and widespread social interest. Acheson said that given their absence, market…
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