Analysts at JPMorgan have argued in a new report that Jack Dorsey’s $50 million investment into the flagship cryptocurrency bitcoin is a “strong vote of confidence for the future of bitcoin” and a signal that the payments company sees a “lot of potential” in BTC as an asset.
According to CoinDesk, JPMorgan analysts wrote that other payments companies will likely follow in Square’s footsteps or risk getting shut out of the growing cryptocurrency segment. Per the analysts, millennials have been buying bitcoin on Square’s Cash App, helping demand in the third quarter of the year exceed supply at a greater level than in the second quarter.
It’s worth noting that while Square invested $50 million into the flagship cryptocurrency, billion-dollar business intelligence firm MicroStrategy “purchased 38,250 bitcoins at an aggregate purchase price of $425 million,” while $10 billion asset manager Stone Ridge bought 10,000 BTC, now worth well over $100 million.
JPMorgan’s analysts pointed out that Square itself is likely to make more BTC purchases, and that its first investment in bitcoin is a strong vote of confidence in the cryptocurrency in the long term. However, they added that the September sell-off only “partly alleviated” what the team described as overbought conditions, which could mean BTC’s price is due for a correction in the near future.
The analysts also noted that bitcoin options contracts trading volumes have risen on established exchanges like the CME in which institutional clients prefer to deal. However, they said it’s likely retail traffic driving options volumes up.
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