Institutional dominance drives Bitcoin’s $110,000 breakthrough, with 68% long positions and $3.6 billion ETF inflows transforming crypto from speculation to strategic reserve.
lRegulatory clarity through the GENIUS Act and global policy shifts enable compliant institutional entry, while geopolitical tensions accelerate crypto adoption.
lDespite bullish momentum, concentration risks, regulatory fragmentation, and leverage concerns threaten market stability as Bitcoin challenges traditional monetary systems.
Bitcoin breaks $110,000 as institutional investors drive adoption through ETFs and corporate balance sheets. Regulatory shifts and geopolitical tensions fuel the crypto surge, but structural risks remain.
On May 22, 2025, the global financial market ushered in a historic inflection point – the price of Bitcoin exceeded the $110,000 mark. The market capitalization stabilized at $2.1 trillion, surpassing traditional assets such as gold and Microsoft, and for the first time, ranking among the world’s top five assets.
At this moment, the social media was on the “#BitcoinToTheMoon” screen, but behind the carnival, a deep game about the reconstruction of financial power is being staged.
THE PRICE RAMPAGE: WHEN “DIGITAL GOLD” BECOMES A STRATEGIC CHIP FOR INSTITUTIONS
Bitcoin‘s surge has long transcended the narrative of “retailers going wild”. In the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s delivery data, institutional investors’ long positions have climbed to 68%, while MicroStrategy’s balance sheet allocation to Bitcoin has exceeded 218%.
The Fuel for This Bull Market Comes From a Triple Combination
Management giants such as BlackRock and Fidelity have continued to add to their positions through the Bitcoin ETF channel, with the 12 bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. market drawing in $3.6 billion in May 2025 alone. Meanwhile, Tesla announced the relaunch of Bitcoin payments, with its founder Musk declaring on the X platform that “it’s the ultimate solution to fight fiat inflation.” The allocation of Bitcoin on corporate balance sheets is shifting from “risk hedging” to “strategic reserve”.
Regulatory deregulation is paving the way for institutions to enter the market. The GENIUS Act passed by the U.S. Senate makes it clear for the first time that issuers of stablecoins need to meet the 1:1 reserve requirement, which is interpreted by Wall Street as a “green light for the entry of compliant funds”. Hong Kong’s “Stablecoin Bill” landing more triggered by the Asian capital movement, Singapore DBS Bank’s custodian data show that institutional customer inquiries surged by 270% year-on-year.
At the macro level, the U.S. credit rating was downgraded by Moody’s, the Federal Reserve interest rate cut is expected to heat up, and the uncertainty of the traditional financial market has intensified the safe-haven attribute of bitcoin. JP Morgan’s research report pointed out that in the past six months, institutional investors from the gold ETF divestment scale is equivalent to the bitcoin ETF inflows of 1.8 times.
RECONFIGURING POWER: THE METAMORPHOSIS FROM FRINGE ASSET TO NEW ANCHOR
The rise of Bitcoin is reshaping the global capital valuation system. On the London Metal Exchange, the price correlation between gold and bitcoin has climbed from -0.3 in 2021 to 0.68, meaning the two are shifting from “substitutes” to “competition.
The underlying logic for this shift is a qualitative change in supply and demand
After the Bitcoin halving cycle (2024), the annual inflation rate drops to 1.7%, and the illiquid supply (i.e., bitcoins locked up for more than a year) reaches a historical peak of 64%. Miners’ hoarding behavior has exacerbated the liquidity crunch in the spot market, while the premium for the Gray Bitcoin Trust continues to be higher than 3%, suggesting that institutional money continues to flow in.
The technical signals are equally intriguing. The MACD indicator saw its first golden cross since the 2021 bull market after the bitcoin price broke above its 50-week SMA in early May. More noteworthy is the options market – call options open interest rose 140% from three months ago, but implied volatility has stabilized at a low of 38%, this “low volatility under the bullish preference” is often a sign of long-term layout of institutional funds.
UNDERCURRENTS: TRIPLE CRACKS BEHIND THE RAPTURE
However, amidst the clamor for Bitcoin to surpass $110,000, structural risks are accumulating.
Policy cracks are at the forefront. Although the U.S. GENIUS Act is advancing rapidly, Democratic Congressman Warren openly questioned the bill “to open the back door for central bank digital currencies”, and the European Union is proposed to require that 80% of the reserves of the stablecoin must be euro assets, the fragmentation of the global regulatory framework may lead to arbitrage chaos.
More problematic is the issue of taxation – the U.S. SEC requires exchanges to segregate client assets up to 120 percent, and rising compliance costs could force small and medium-sized platforms out of the market.
The fragility of the market structure is equally alarming. The top five exchanges control 83% of spot trading volume, according to data from chain analytics firm Santiment, and a single-day blowout on May 22 amounted to $452 million. When markets are not deep enough, any sudden sell-off could trigger a waterfall decline.
A more insidious risk comes from meme culture penetrating political circles – Trump linked his bitcoin position to privilege at the “TRUMP Gala”, and this emotional speculation could overdraw long-term value.
THE BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE: DOLLAR HEGEMONY VS. DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY
At an all-time high of $110,000, Bitcoin’s next battleground goes beyond price itself.
A second wave of institutional money is building momentum. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has set up a bitcoin sovereign fund in El Salvador, and the state of New Hampshire has passed a bill allowing municipalities to allocate Bitcoin as a reserve asset.
Derivatives market innovations are even more noteworthy – the Chicago Board Options Exchange plans to launch a volatility futures contract, a product that could attract traditional hedge funds and create a reinforcing closed loop of “institutional pricing power.
A deeper conflict is the paradigm shift in the monetary system. Russia’s Ministry of Finance figures show that it already accounts for 12% of the world’s bitcoin mining power, and that these coins are flowing into the darknet payment system through cryptocurrency mixers, becoming the “new ruble” to circumvent Western sanctions. In Southeast Asia, real estate developers in Thailand have begun accepting bitcoin for installment purchases, a “de-dollarization” practice that is rewriting the rules of cross-border payments.
CONCLUSION: A CHOICE AT A TURNING POINT IN HISTORY
Bitcoin’s $110,000 moment is essentially a resonance of the loosening of the old order and the rise of new power. As corporate balance sheets, central bank monetary policy, and geopolitical games all point to crypto assets, this bull market has long since transcended technology and evolved into a global currency war.
But revelers need to keep in mind: the cracks of regulatory arbitrage may trigger a collapse at any time, the leverage mania will distort the true value, and the sovereign’s countermeasures have never been absent.
For ordinary investors, more important than guessing “200,000 U.S. dollars” is to understand the underlying logic of this change – it is neither a pure speculative feast, nor a utopian financial revolution, but the traditional financial system and digital native forces in the collision to find a new It is a period of pain in the collision between the traditional financial system and the digital native force to find a new balance.
As Bitcoin and traditional financial assets engage in a “pricing power struggle,” will you bet on volatility or seek to hedge your bets? Feel free to share your strategies and insights.
〈Bitcoin Breaks Through All-Time High: A Dual Narrative of Institutional Entry and Regulatory Gaming.〉這篇文章最早發佈於《CoinRank》。
