Grayscale saw almost as much investment in Q1 2020 as in all of 2019
Other trends included a gentle skew from Bitcoin to Ethereum as the quarter wore on.
Consider this:
In 2019 alone Grayscale got more investment than it did in every year from 2013 to 2018 combined.
Now in the first quarter of 2020 alone, it's come close to reaching its total 2019 figures.
Of course, close is relative. In this case it's about a hundred million dollars difference.
In 2019 Grayscale saw US$609.7 million of crypto investments. In Q1 2020 it saw $503.7 million, according to its latest Digital Asset Investment Report.
Total cumulative inflows
The existing user preference for four parts Bitcoin to one part ETH, garnished with privacy coins and served with ice, remained intact last quarter despite the growing inflows.
The inflows were much more consistent this time though, and it appears preferences slightly shifted towards Ethereum as the economic crisis wore on.
Bitcoin investments were growing more in absolute terms, but started plateauing in mid-March while Ether inflows continued at a much higher rate proportionally.
There was also a small shift towards more Grayscale investors holding multiple assets this year, instead of just Bitcoin.
That might be the result, and maybe a very small part of the cause, of Ethereum's strong performance this year.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is neck-and-neck with its 1 January 2020 prices, while Ethereum is a good 30% up.
Compared to the previous 12 months, the Grayscale investor profile shifted strongly away from accredited individuals, and more towards institutional investors, and slightly away from the USA and more internationally.
All in all, it was just a cracking month of record growth for Grayscale.
"Amidst a quarter characterized by significant broad-based volatility, demand for Grayscale products continued to grow, and did so at a record pace," it writes. "Investors are tactically using drawdowns to increase their exposure to the asset class, even in a "riskoff" environment.
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Disclosure: The author holds BNB, BTC at the time of writing.
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