Early enthusiasts for the cryptocurrency were drawn to its revolutionary ideals of transparency and a lack of central or official control. The risks of dealing in bitcoin were laid bare in 2013 when Tokyo-based exchange Mt. Gox collapsed after admitting it had lost the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars of investor funds.
The currency's earlier ties to gambling and criminal websites did not endear it to traditional investors.
Jeremy Millar, founder and managing partner at Ledger Partners in London, estimated that 50-90% of bitcoin's current $6.4 billion market cap is held by near-institutional money such as individuals at hedge funds and family offices. That has not changed over the last two years.
He does not have an estimate for institutional investment holdings of bitcoin. But he said they are likely to be insignificant, compared with the smaller investors who have fewer restrictions about fund allocation.
http://www.etf.com/sections/features-and-news/bitcoin-finds-place-small-etfs
