Half Of All The Ethereum Mined So Far In 2020 Snatched By Grayscale
After last year’s consolidation, where pretty much every crypto, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), were bartering at bleeding levels, 2020 started and progressed with a twist.
In Ethereum’s case, ETH was trading near $130 apiece in January, before reaching a local high of $290. Then by the mid-March shortage caused by the ongoing pandemic, one ETH could be grabbed for $87, while at the moment it sits above $215, which makes up a more than just healthy +65% ROI since the beginning of the year.
Ether (ETH, Ξ) is the world’s leading cryptocurrency from a utility standpoint, and it seems like it is set to reach new heights amid the long-awaited Ethereum 2.0 update that’s just around the corner.
As a matter of fact, the majority of Ethereum investors have been holding their digital assets for the past six months straight, while over 77% of the addressed ETH has been stored in externally owned accounts (EOAs), according to a new study.
Read More: Buterin Envisions Ethereum 2.0 By 2030
The growth potential can be furthermore attributed to industry adoption, analogizing the fact that firms of the likes of Microsoft, EY, and IBM are promoting the public Ethereum blockchain over private blockchains, even for enterprise-grade use-cases.
IBM-backed blockchain consortium Hyperledger has even built an Enterprise version of Ethereum called the Hyperledger Besu, which is speculated to be used by central banks for the issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) in the form of stablecoins.
Innovative applications already available in a decentralized fashion and running on the Ethereum blockchain attract more regular users in the sector, thanks to Ethereum byproducts such as the DeFi (decentralized finance) ecosystem, to NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and to all sorts of dapps (decentralized applications, or web3 apps) that tend to look and operate like traditional apps.
But probably one of the most significant giveaways of Ethereum’s rise to new standards would be the mass involvement of institutional investors in this particular time of the year.
Read More: Ethereum Once Again The Blockchain Of Choice For Private Giants
Grayscale Investments Goes All-In Ethereum
According to a recent post firstly appeared on Reddit, Grayscale Investments, one of the scene’s leading digital asset management companies has been confirmed to have bought near 50% of all Ether minted so far in the year.
That would be 1.1% of all ETH currently in circulation, or 756,539 ETH as cited by the original post.
If you’re unfamiliar with Greyscale, besides business intelligence, the popular crypto-focused firm provides institutional investors with a variety of investment funds targeting the crypto industry.
Over $2.7bn worth of digital assets are being managed by Grayscale, of which $234mn attribute for the Ethereum Trust. At the same time, the company manages a $2.3bn Bitcoin Trust, as well as other digital currencies such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH), ZCash (ZEC), Ripple (XRP), and more.
The post provides data suggesting Grayscale was stacking ETH in an aggressive fashion since the very beginning of the year. Inflows to Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust reached $110mn only in the first Q of 2020, outperforming the inflows of the past two years combined which make up a decent $95,8mn, yet nowhere near analogous to the recent acquisitions.
Read More: The Best and Worst Crypto Communities In 2020
Finally, and with all that in mind, thinking of the Ethereum 2.0 update, where basically “validators” holding at least 32 ETH will be rewarded with new coins, one could say that Grayscale is preparing for a zombie-apocalypse-like scenario where wild ETH might go extinct.
Are you holding any Ether (ETH), and where do you see it by the end of the year? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below or hit me on @Twitter.
