Big investors new to cryptocurrencies appear to be behind bitcoin’s rally to a record

Big investors new to cryptocurrencies appear to be behind bitcoin’s rally to a record

Stanley Druckenmiller (L) and Paul Tudor JonesCNBCA herd of new, big investors are scooping up bitcoin this year as the price more than doubles.Investors who bought at least 1,000 bitcoins — worth roughly $23 million at Friday's price — and have had an account open for less than a year, drove significant demand since September, according to data firm Chainalysis. The new cohort together bought half a million bitcoins, or $11.5 billion worth, in the past three months.In the time these new investors accelerated their buying spree, bitcoin's price more than doubled from $10,000 level. The new demand has helped fuel the cryptocurrency's rally to an all-time high, according to Philip Gradwell, chief economist at Chainalysis."The role of institutional investors is becoming ever clearer in the data," Gradwell said in a note to clients Friday. "Demand is being driven by North American investors on fiat exchanges, with greater demand from institutional buyers."The surge in demand from wealthy Wall Street investors marks a sharp turn-around from bitcoin's first run-up three years ago. The 2017 rally was driven by retail investors, many of whom who bet on bitcoin and other smaller cryptocurrencies out of speculation. Bitcoin became a household name when it