Institutional investors lead Bitcoin (BTC) trading, according to the CEO of CryptoQuant. In the first quarter of 2022, institutional investors accounted for 76 % of the trading volume of Coinbase, according to Ki Young Ju.

The CEO of CryptoQuant said that “retail investors are leaving the crypto market. Not bad for accumulating Bitcoin with institutions, but still worried about overall volume, which is significantly decreased compared to last year.”

Retail investors are leaving the crypto market.

Not bad for accumulating #Bitcoin with institutions, but still worried about overall volume which is significantly decreased compared to last year. pic.twitter.com/0XtRwc3eNp

— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) May 18, 2022

During the crypto price crash the other week, Ju believes institutional investors bought Bitcoin (BTC) from market participants. Ju stated that “Market maker(s), including the ones hired by LFG [Luna Foundation Guard], already sent 84,000 BTC(~$2.5 billion) to multiple exchanges last week. Not sure they finished selling, but it is highly likely for the accumulation from institutions since Coinbase digested the majority of selling pressure.”

Just the other week, as the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) crashed, the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) unloaded more than $2.4 billion in Bitcoin (BTC). LFG announced via a Twitter thread that 

“Consistent with its non-profit mission and focus on the health of the Terra ecosystem, beginning on May 8, when the price of UST began to drop substantially below one dollar, the Foundation began converting this reserve to UST. The Foundation did so by directly executing on-chain swaps and transferring BTC to a counterparty to enable them to enter trades with the Foundation in large size and on short notice…Transferred 52,189 BTC to trade with a counterparty, net of an excess of 5,313 BTC that they have returned, for an aggregate 1,515,689,462 UST.”

3/ The Foundation did so by directly executing on-chain swaps and transferring $BTC to a counterparty to enable them to enter trades with the Foundation in large size & on short notice.

— LFG | Luna Foundation Guard (@LFG_org) May 16, 2022

After TerraUSD (UST) declined to $0.75, Terraform Labs liquidated an additional 33,206 Bitcoin (BTC). At the time of writing, TerraUSD (UST) was valued at $0.087983. LFG and Terra sold a total of 80,082 Bitcoin (BTC). At the time of posting, Bitcoin (BTC) was changing hands at $30,161, making the entire value over $2.4 billion for the sale.

LFG claims it will reimburse the residual UST consumers with its outstanding holdings. The statement read: “The Foundation is looking to use its remaining assets to compensate remaining users of UST, smallest holders first. We are still debating through various distribution methods, updates to follow soon.”