Bitcoin just witnesses $20,000 over cryptocurrency exchanges for the first time in its entire history since its creation. There is a lot of difference between the current bull run and the bull recorded in 2017 as there was the only rush of retail traders at the time, but now the situation has totally changed with the coming of institutional clients in the industry.

Bitcoin has achieved another milestone after claiming $20,000 as it is the first event in history that value reaches $20k.  A new all-time value occurred in the trading session of December 16 two after the previous all-time high.

Current Bull Run is Different than 2017

The market rally is different from 2017 as 2020 is the best year for the world’s leading digital currency. This year, the interest of institutional investors is at the highest level and people are now considering it as a good store of value against high inflation and bad policies of central banks to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

In 2017’s BTC rally, retail investors were active and there was no concept of institutional interest. At the time, bull run ended after whales cashed out their holdings to collect the profit. It was a time when institutional-inspired platforms, such as CME, came into existence after seeing a high potential in cryptocurrency.

Currently, the long-term position of Bitcoin seems very stable due to the entry of giant investment insurance firms and asset management companies. Recently, the CME BTC futures platform recorded an open interest of $1.27 billion.

Even some asset fund managers are turning to Bitcoin from gold due to the high potential of Bitcoin. What’s more, big investors do not invest in the short term but store for a longer period of time.

It is also a great achievement for Bitcoin that investors now see it as a good store of value against macro-economic changes in the world. According to MicroStrategy’s CEO Michael Saylor:

“Bitcoin is the world’s best treasury reserve asset and the emerging dominant monetary network. It is the solution to the store of value problem faced by every individual, corporation, and government on earth. As this news gets out, the world is going to change for the better.”

Bitcoin’s competitors, gold and S&P 500, are behind in year to date performance than the flagship cryptocurrency. It is not a very strange thing as Wall Street investors now prefer Bitcoin over gold.