Bitcoin (BTC USD) is set to return for its fourth halving this month, and the community is as excited as ever for the event. Amid this excitement, other players – institutional investors – are also taking notice.
The halving hasn’t necessarily always resulted in an immediate price increase, but the sheer excitement and attention surrounding the BTC event lays the foundation for future favorable price movements. Investors who got in earlier are being primed to reap bountiful harvests when the cryptocurrency rebounds.
Back in February, boutique investment bank Benchmark noted that Bitcoin’s previous bull runs were linked to its halving events. For example, the halving in 2020 preceded the cryptocurrency’s “dramatic rise from $8,572 to an all-time high of $67,566 in 2021.”
However, these are the institutional names that bet on Bitcoin ahead of the April halving.
Microstrategy (MSTR)
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Microstrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) first bought into Bitcoin in August 2020 as an inflation hedge. The company hasn’t looked back since.
After countless purchases over the years, the business intelligence software company now has 214,246 BTC in its inventory – making it the largest BTC holder of any company. While some observers believe MicroStrategy’s stockpiling of Bitcoin is financially unwise given its volatility, others have praised the acquisition strategy.
In the same benchmark report, analyst Mark Palmer mentioned Buy recommendation MicroStrategy shares because it believes the company is well positioned to benefit from increased institutional demand for Bitcoin. Palmer set a $990 price target on MSTR stock in February. Shares now trade for less than $1,600 apiece.
Palmer’s price prediction for MSTR stock was based on the assumption that Bitcoin could very well reach $125,000 by the end of 2025. The analyst claimed that MicroStrategy is making an offer to investors “Contemporary game” on the upcoming Bitcoin halving.
BlackRock (BLK)
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BlackRocks (NYSE:BLACK) The relationship with Bitcoin is a complete about-face from its previous stance towards the digital asset. CEO Larry Fink says BTC is a problem “Money Laundering Index.”
The company’s turnaround towards cryptocurrencies was in response to growing demand. In one Announcement 2022BlackRock noted that it has set up a spot Bitcoin private trust for US institutional clients.
At the time, the world’s largest asset manager (with around $10 trillion in assets under management) said that it was “still seeing significant interest from some institutional clients” despite the then-prevailing crypto winter. Just the week before, BlackRock had entered into a partnership Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) via Coinbase Prime to familiarize its investors directly with Bitcoin.
Customer demand for BTC exposure remains constant to date. BlackRock Head of Digital Assets Robert Mitchnick said recently that the groundbreaking cryptocurrency is “overwhelmingly the focus” for crypto-interested customers.
Last year, BlackRock was at the forefront of institutions clamoring for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) Permit. The company’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:I BIT) is one of the today most successful Bitcoin ETFs according to the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) approved these funds in January and have seen nearly $14 billion in inflows so far.
Founder’s Fund
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Already in February, Reuters revealed that Peter Thiel’s venture capital (VC) company Founder’s Fund had committed $200 million to Bitcoin and ether (ETH-USD) in 2023 – half on each coin “from late summer to early fall last year.”
Bitcoin changed hands for less than $30,000 during this period. Since then, the coin’s value has more than doubled and is now worth one All-time high of almost $74,000 March.
With Bitcoin ETFs still in hot demand and the halving approaching, BTC is poised for an even stronger comeback.
Reuters notes that Founders Fund is an early institutional investor in BTC. According to the publication, the VC firm began investing in Bitcoin in 2014 and made a profit of $1.8 billion before selling it before the crypto market collapsed dramatically in 2022.
At the time of publication, Hope Mutie did not hold, directly or indirectly, any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, subject to InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.