Digital currencies are drifting lower Friday, in what’s been a relatively quiet end to the week after the up-and-down action on Monday and Tuesday.
The world’s No. 1 digital currency, bitcoin BTCUSD, +0.70% continues to hover around the $7,500 level, last trading at $7,446.35, down 1.2% since Thursday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken crypto exchange.
The extent of the recent lull is evident in the overnight range, which, as of early New York trading was less than $250.
High net worth piling into cryptos
The calm is a welcome relief to those hoping for mainstream adoption of digital assets. Some have blamed excess volatility for the lack of institutional money. However, that trend is starting to shift, according to one consulting firm.
DeVere Group, a financial consulting firm, recently said it added Bitcoin Cash and EOS to its platform because of growing demand from high net worth individuals.
“This mainstream expansion is clearly evidenced by the fact that more than a third [35%] of wealthy individuals around the world—who are already likely to be successful investors—are telling us that they already have exposure to crypto or that they will have by the end of this year,” wrote Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group.
“The survey’s findings demonstrate that high net worth individuals are increasingly unable to ignore the huge potential of cryptocurrencies.”
Altcoins and futures off to a slow start
Altcoins, or coins other than bitcoin, have followed bitcoin’s lead in edging slightly lower. Ether ETHUSD, +1.83% lost 1.3% to $571.50, Bitcoin Cash BCHUSD, +1.44% is down 1.4% at $985.00, Litecoin LTCUSD, +0.78% is lower by 0.8% at $118.33, and Ripple’s XRP coin XRPUSD, +1.36% is off 0.6% at 61 cents.
Bitcoin futures too have followed the trend. The Cboe June contract XBTM8, -1.32% is down 1.5% at $7,445, while the CME June contract BTCM8, -0.99% is down 1.3% at $7,445.
