The leading and most valuable Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is looking to chase high figures above $40,000 in 2021. BTC, which currently trades slightly above $34,000, hasn’t traded anywhere near this level since it’s bull run in 2017, where it traded at about $19,783.

The mainstream adoption of the cryptocurrency and widespread acceptance across the world took a shine on cryptocurrency. Now, the analyst has taken a keen look at factors that ensure that the current price surge will not fluke.

Unlike 2017, Retail investors are no longer dominating

According to analysts in 2017, the BTC bull run was driven by retail investors who took advantage of an emerging cryptocurrency market by placing bets on it and other smaller-cap cryptos from their initial coin offering craze. A report on the Wall Street Journal and compiled by crypto-analyst Chris Weston confirmed that the activities of millions of retail investors from Japan, China, and South Korea saw Bitcoin register a gain of about 1,300% that year. BTC’s price drive in 2021 will be pushed because the party is now open to everyone.

This bull run saw several investors, especially institutional investors, enter the digital asset market, unlike 2017, which saw several retail investors take up the space. It is expected of institutional investors to withhold their assets with no plans of selling, at least anytime soon.

Most of them were former critics now turning to BTC to strengthen their balance sheets instead of letting it sit in cash. Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett believes that the volatile nature of the BTC could be a deterrent to why a few wall street investors like him are yet to commit to the Cryptocurrency.

A typical example of an old critic who has now become an institutional investor is PayPal. Its former CEO, Bill Harris, in 2018 had labeled BTC as a scam while concluding that it had no value and was on its part to zero. It is worth mentioning now that Square only rivals PayPal’s commitment to BTC in the list of large companies buying up BTC. In October, the payment company announced that it would support cryptocurrency transactions where users can buy, hold or sell Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash across the 26 million merchants on its platform.

Emergence of BTM

It is worthy to note that the starting price of Bitcoin in 2021 was slightly above $32,000, compared to $1,000 in 2017 and $7,000 in 2020. This is a testament to changing times for cryptocurrencies, which is predicted to witness above 200% influx of new users by the 2nd quarter of 2021. Bitcoin ATMs, also known as BTMs, is becoming a competitive and convenient gateway for retail investors and are gradually expanding their footprint across the globe.

The BTM market is set to ensure that crypto retail investors have an easy gateway into the market through its decentralized nature. CoinFlip, a popular BTM operator, had recently rolled out thousands of BTMs across the U.S., focusing it on locations where people are without bank accounts or internet access. It is also worthy to note that the cash-to-Bitcoin approach offers retail investors a convenient and straightforward method to enter the Bitcoin market.