Institutional Adoption Has Been the Dominant Crypto Narrative for 2024

Bitcoin has increased almost 130% this year, breaking record highs on several occasions. It is currently hovering near the psychological threshold of $100,000.

Cryptocurrency has entered the mainstream conversation more than ever before in 2023, with the U.S. approval of spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds and a growing number of companies pledging to buy the largest cryptocurrency for their treasuries.

Bitcoin has surged almost 130% this year, breaking record highs on several occasions. It is currently trading at around $98,000. The ETFs that were approved in January have seen net inflows of $36 billion and gathered over 1 million BTC.

Meanwhile, the trend of publicly traded companies adding bitcoin to their corporate treasury is accelerating. KULR Technology (KULR) became the latest company to announce such a move.

The Houston, Texas-based company, which manufactures energy storage products for the space and defense industries, said it purchased 217.18 BTC for $21 million and is allocating up to 90% of the surplus cash from now on to BTC, as part of its treasury management strategy.

"We believe that bitcoin is a scarce, digital and decentralized store of value that aligns well with our long-term value creation strategy," KULR CEO Michael Moen said in a statement.

"This initial bitcoin purchase is a prudent allocation of our excess cash, and we will continue to evaluate bitcoin and other emerging technologies for future value-accretive opportunities within the parameters of our treasury management strategy."

The maker of lithium-ion batteries for space applications, satellites and deep-sea technologies added that it sold a portion of its class A common stock to a single institutional investor at a price of $100 per share, raising $30 million in proceeds, which were used to buy bitcoin.

In another development, Bitwise Asset Management, which already has spot bitcoin and ether ETFs, has applied for an exchange-traded fund that will track the shares of companies that hold at least 1,000 BTC in treasury.

Other requirements for the fund, called Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF, are a market capitalization of at least $100 million, a minimum average daily liquidity of at least $1 million and a public free float of less than 10%, according to the filing, dated Dec. 26.

Meanwhile, a second filing on Thursday was made by Strive Asset Management, which was co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, a former political appointee in the administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

The Bitcoin Bond ETF will offer exposure through derivative instruments such as MicroStrategy's convertible securities in an actively managed ETF.

The bonds have been massively successful, with the 0% coupon bond maturing in 2027 trading at 150% above par and outperforming bitcoin since inception.

"Since our inception, Strive has highlighted the long-term investment risks posed by the global fiat debt crisis, inflation, and geopolitical unrest," Strive CEO Matt Cole told CoinDesk.

"We firmly believe that there is no better long-term investment to hedge against these risks than measured exposure to bitcoin."

"Strive's first of many planned bitcoin solutions will democratize access to bitcoin bonds, which are bonds issued by corporations to purchase bitcoin. We believe that these bonds offer attractive risk-adjusted returns to bitcoin, yet they are not available for direct purchase by most investors," he added.