What makes bitcoin a great investment to a lot of off shore investors is that it can easily be transferred quickly without a middleman. Banks are able to freeze your assets but with bitcoin you are the sole owner and no one can freeze or seize your btc.
This past year people kept saying institutional money was coming but I think it will take a few years for mainstream investors to enter the crypto world. It's a great hedge against real estate and fiat money which can implode at anytime.
Yeah and emerging markets are needing it more and more now that their currencies are becoming useless. It's hard for citizens of these countries to live with spiraling inflation, rapid devaluation, and stagnant growth, so they turn to bitcoin, gold, and dollar to protect themselves. Unfortunately, more people value the second two these days because they think bitcoin is "super risky"
Once institutional money finds its way in, we'll see more people dipping their toes in. But it might not be a good thing because they can also monkey-hammer it down with massive shorts whenever they want as well.