Reports Says Bitcoin Retail Addresses Surged by 300% in Q1 2021

While many believe that institutional investors pushed the bull run of Bitcoin and other crypto-assets at the beginning of the year, new data from leading crypto exchange OKEx and its analytic firm partner Catallact has indicated that retail investors bought more of the coins than institutional investors due to the fear of missing out (FOMO).

Citing a JPMorgan Chase report of March this year, the report stated that while institutional investors bought 172,648 units of the crypto asset in the first quarter of the year, retail investors bought more. According to the report, retail investors had purchased over 187,000 coins in Q1 2021 alone.

The report also reinforced its point that retail investors played a significant role in the bull run of the asset, noting that there were changes in the numbers of Bitcoin addresses holding over 1000 BTCs. Per the report, “BTC addresses with small balances grew rapidly in Q1 2021. In particular, addresses holding 0.0001 BTC to 0.001 BTC surged by more than 300%. (While) the number of addresses holding over 1,000 BTC fell slightly.”

This led to the conclusion that the bull run, which began towards the end of last year, attracted many retail investors into the space in the early period of the year.

The report concluded that retail interest in BTC in the first quarter of the year and the ”surging open interest of BTC derivatives likely affects short-term market movements.”