BTC/USD: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust absorbs 2/3 of new Bitcoin supply

• Grayscale increased its Bitcoin purchases amid growing institutional interest.
• Bitcoin continues sliding down with $8,000 in focus.

Grayscale is buying about 2/3 of all new Bitcoin’s supply, according to the research performed by a Reddit user aka parakite. The data shows that the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust increased by over 60,000 BTC from February 7 to May 17, which means that those coins will be locked for at least six months.

Those findings are confirmed by another cryptocurrency expert Kevin Rooke, who explained that Grayscale Bitcoin Trust invested nearly 30 billion in Bitcoin per week in Q1 2020, which is ten times more than a year ago. This development may indicate increased institutional interest in Bitcoin as Grayscale Trusts allow them to gain risk-free exposure to digital assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Earlier the FXStreet reported that the total value of all assets under management in Grayscale hit the all-time-high at $3.8 billion. Also, Grayscale purchased nearly half of al ETH coins minted since the start of the year.

BTC/USD: Technical picture

BTC/USD is changing hands at $8,750, down nearly 5% on a day-to-day basis. The first digital asset with the current market value of $162 billion has been moving within a short-term bearish trend since the start of the day and touched the intraday low at $8,637. While the price managed to regain some ground, it is still below the psychological barrier of $9,000.

BTC/USD is trying to break weekly SMA50. If this support gives way, the sell-off may start snowballing and take the price to $8,200. Daily SMA50 and 23.6% Fibo retracement may slow down the bears. Though, once it is broken, stronger support of $8,000 will come into view. It is reinforced by daily SMA100 and SMA200 as well as $61.8%  Fibo retracement for the downside move from February 2020 high.

BTC/USD daily chart