Crypto Market Loses Retail as Institutions Support Prices; AI Seen as Next Catalyst

Doohyun Hwang

Summary

The current crypto market is seeing retail investors exit, while institutional investors are supporting the downside, he said.
He said Bitcoin is viewed as a mature asset with sustained growth potential over the next 15 to 20 years, while altcoins need a strong narrative to regain investor attention.
He also pointed to the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) as a catalyst for broader market adoption, saying AI-powered smart agents will help draw new inflows from more conservative users.

Forecast Trend Report by Period

Retail investors have largely exited the cryptocurrency market, leaving institutional investors to help shore up prices, according to Haseeb Qureshi, a partner at Dragonfly.

Qureshi shared that view on May 2 in comments on recent market trends.

Bitcoin is increasingly viewed as a mature asset with sustained growth potential over the next 15 to 20 years, he said. Altcoins, by contrast, need a clear and compelling narrative to draw retail investors back.

He added that the core of the crypto industry still lies in money and finance. Areas including decentralized finance, or DeFi, stablecoins, crypto exchanges and real-world asset tokenization, or RWA, continue to command strong user loyalty and appeal.

Qureshi cited the integration of artificial intelligence as the next catalyst for broader market adoption. AI-powered smart agents will serve as intermediaries in crypto transactions and improve accessibility and adoption across the system, he said. That could open the door for more conservative, lower-risk users to emerge as a new source of inflows into the market.

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