Bitcoin has seen unparalleled growth in early 2021, reaching highs of over $58,000, almost triple its peak of the 2017–2018 boom. We are entering an era where institutions are starting to turn to Bitcoin (BTC), as many countries worldwide have been printing unprecedented amounts of money to service mounting debt. And to make matters worse, they are also facing the risk of unmanageable inflation. This perfect storm of macro conditions means institutions like pension funds, hedge funds, as well as high-net-worth individuals with trillions of dollars in combined value are starting to pay attention and learn about Bitcoin for the first time.
Unlike the 2017 bull run, this current run is driven less by hype and more by Bitcoin being accepted in the traditional financial world as a scarce asset class. Enterprise and institutional adoption of crypto assets has been the driving theme of 2021, with Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) investing $1.5 billion in Bitcoin, one of the most prominent examples of corporate adoption to date.