One River Makes One of the Largest Cryptocurrency Trades in History

One River has worked with crypto exchange Coinbase to invest an undisclosed amount in cryptocurrency. According to Coinbase, which carried out the transaction, its purchase represents “one of the largest digital asset trades in history.”

The initial trades were executed over a five day period at different speeds, in order to work through varying market conditions, the exchange explained.

“The Coinbase institutional team provided exactly what we needed to execute this transaction discreetly,” said Eric Peters, CIO of One River.

Before this was announced, speculation had been building over growing institutional activity at Coinbase. Market observers have noted large amounts of Bitcoin being withdrawn from the exchange, suggesting institutional holders buying Bitcoin and withdrawing to long term storage.

On January 5, Cryptoquant CEO Ki Young Ju noted that 55,000 Bitcoin left the exchange on January 2. It is unknown whether One River's purchase was part of this big increase in withdrawals.

The case for cryptocurrency

One River recently made its case for cryptocurrencies in a post on its website, entitled "The Case for Digital Assets." In the post, Peters put forward a long term view that cryptocurrencies are the technology of the future.

"Owning these assets is a mere toehold to the future, a deposit on the view that everything we know about financial intermediation and its relationship to centralized policy will change in ways we cannot yet foresee," Peters said.

Bitcoin Demand is Booming; Bitcoin Supply is Shrinking

There are two key factors that affect Bitcoin’s price: supply and demand. And while the available supply has been shrinking, demand has been rapidly going up. Institutional investors and companies like MicroStrategy have been plowing into the market, buying up huge quantities of Bitcoin—increasing the demand. At the same time, data shows that the amount of Bitcoin available on exchanges has been declining massively. And this is already affecting the market. “Bitcoin is in a supply and liquidity...

"Holding these assets over the long-term aligns yourself with the macro mega-trends of technological advance and currency debasement, both of which appear to be accelerating. And naturally, where this all leads, and to what valuations, will be determined by our collective imagination," he added.