Retail investors are running out of time to accumulate Bitcoin as institutional adoption accelerates

Bitcoin (BTC) is evolving into an alternative reserve currency, propelling institutional demand and potentially pricing out retail investors

Retail investors may be running out of time to accumulate Bitcoin (BTC) as institutional adoption accelerates, leaving smaller entities and nations with limited opportunity to join in, according to Sergej Kunz, co-founder of exchange aggregator 1inch.

Bitcoin is evolving into an alternative reserve currency, propelling institutional demand and potentially pricing out retail investors, Kunz said during Cointelegraph’s LONGITUDE event in Dubai.

“Every retail user should be thinking about getting at least one Bitcoin — very soon they won’t be able to afford it,” Kunz said.

If the United States starts buying Bitcoin for a strategic reserve, even smaller countries may soon struggle to acquire the cryptocurrency. “I’m pretty sure we’ll soon see countries battling over who owns more Bitcoin. The US will start.”

Bitcoin demand has accelerated since US President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs on US imports in April, setting off a global trade war.

“The only thing that still acts as a true hedge — across borders, against inflation — is Bitcoin,” Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said during the panel.

Related: US President Donald Trump issues 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs

Global reserve asset?

During the week of April 21-25, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) attracted more than $3 billion in inflows as institutions sought safety in “digital gold” amid mounting macroeconomic uncertainty.

Analysts say demand from financial institutions could push Bitcoin’s price as high as $200,000 per coin this year. By 2029, institutional Bitcoin adoption could propel the cryptocurrency’s price past $1 million, Bitwise’s head of European research, André Dragosch, said.

For Bitcoin, “[t]he silver lining is that economic uncertainty has historically accelerated institutional interest in digital assets as a diversification strategy,” David Siemer, co-founder and CEO of Wave Digital Assets, told Cointelegraph.

As of May 1, Bitcoin ETFs and other institutional funds hold upward of $128 billion worth of BTC, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.NET. Corporate treasuries hold another roughly $73 billion, the data shows.

Sovereign states — including the U.S., China, and the United Kingdom — collectively hold more than $130 billion worth of BTC. However, much of those holdings are from crypto assets seized by law enforcement, not outright Bitcoin buys.