Inflows into cryptocurrency funds and products hit a record $4.5 billion in the first quarter, suggesting increased institutional participation in the once-maligned sector, data from digital currency manager Coinshares showed on Tuesday.
The first quarter inflows represented an 11% increase from the last three months of 2020, which hit $3.9 billion.
Investments into crypto, however, slowed in the first quarter compared with the fourth, where growth was 240%, data showed. Coinshares said in the report, however, that this was not “indicative of a broader slowing trend, as quarterly growth rates tend to be highly varied.”
On Monday, the cryptocurrency sector hit an all-time peak of $2 trillion in market capitalization. Bitcoin’s market cap was more than $1 trillion, holding that milestone level for one whole week.
Crypto assets under management have also surged to a peak of $59 billion, CoinShares data showed. Last year, assets under management for the sector hit $37.6 billion.
Grayscale is still the largest digital currency manager, with $46.1 billion in assets, while CoinShares, the second biggest and the largest European digital asset manager, oversees about $5.1 billion in assets.
Total market volumes remained high during the quarter, averaging $11.6 billion per day, compared with $3.5 billion in the last three months of 2020.
Reference: Reuters
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