Contextualizing LMAX Digital's record-breaking year

Bitcoin and Ethereum are having a really good year; Bitcoin’s price has increased 156.5% YTD while Ethereum soared 348.0%. PayPal’s crypto offering is already generating “2–3x expected demand,” and Cash App generated $1.6 billion worth of bitcoin sales in 3Q (representing ~90% of all cumulative sales prior to that). Moreover, 2020 appears to be the first year with meaningful institutional adoption.

In mid-April, Renaissance Technologies — a $75 billion hedge fund best known for pioneering quantitative-based investing — said that its Medallion Funds are “permitted to enter into bitcoin futures transactions.” Soon afterward in May, billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones had allocated “1–2% of his assets into bitcoin” through CME bitcoin futures after saying: “The best profit-maximizing strategy is to own the fastest horse. If I am forced to forecast, my bet is it will be Bitcoin.” A couple of weeks ago, a famed macro investor Stanley Druckenmiller announced he has allocated a portion of his portfolio to bitcoin.