Institutional investors, aka companies with investments over $1 million, are showing increasing interest in cryptocurrencies. For 2023, assets under management (AUM) in various exchange-traded funds rose 71.5% to $33.7 billion.

Bitcoin and Ethereum faced a significant inflow of 70.7% and 22.0%, correspondingly. At the same time, investments in other altcoins were obscured by the SEC's unfriendly stance and its labelling of a wide range of cryptocurrencies as securities.

That changed in July after a judge ruled in the SEC's litigation against Ripple that buying/selling coins on cryptocurrency exchanges isn't a securities transaction. This led to a surge in interest in altcoins, where Stellar's XLM overtook everyone in terms of monthly growth rate with a 62.7% gain.

The price also showed an impressive 40% increase, reaching $0.16 per coin.

In addition to the bursting interest in altcoins, the change in the geographic affiliation of institutional investors is also deserving of attention. Setting aside Grayscale trusts, which hold a 74.1% market share, Europe's increased interest in cryptocurrencies comes to light. Sweden, Switzerland and Germany grew AUM to $3.9 billion in July, accounting for 11.5% of the total volume.

This is also fuelled by the adoption of a full-fledged MiCA regulation on cryptocurrencies that will come into force in 2024. In contrast, in the US, the SEC's confusing stance, court battles and the lack of a Bitcoin spot ETFs are cutting investments.

StormGain Analytical Group
(platform for trading, exchanging and storing cryptocurrency)