Bitcoin’s price finally broke the January all-time high and set a new record earlier today of almost $112,000 as its market cap flew past the $2.2 trillion line.

Many altcoins have posted even more impressive gains over the past day, led by HYPE’s meteoric rise beyond $30.

BTC’s New ATH

BTC broke above $100,000 on May 8 and has maintained within a six-digit price territory ever since. In the following weeks, it remained in a relatively tight range between $103,000 and $105,000 aside from a few false breakout attempts to either side.

The past weekend saw another surge toward the upper boundary, which was initially stopped by the bears. More volatility ensued as the business week progressed. In short, BTC pumped to $107,000 on a couple of occasions, but each rejection pushed it south by several grand.

That was until yesterday, when the bulls took complete control of the market, pushed beyond that resistance, and finally helped the primary cryptocurrency break its January all-time high of around $109,100 and set a new one at almost $110,000. At first, bitcoin was driven south again, to almost $106,000, but the situation reversed during the Monday morning Asian trading session when it flew to nearly $112,000 to set a fresh record.

Despite dropping to $110,500 at this point, its market cap has risen to around $2 billion, which makes bitcoin the fifth-largest asset by that metric. It’s above giants like Amazon and Alphabet (Google) but trails behind Apple and gold, which is the undisputed leader.

HYPE Rises

The altcoins have turned green as well today, with ETH surging by 5% and climbing above $2,650. XRP is up by 3.8% and sits well above $2.4, while BNB has jumped past $680 after a 5% daily pump. Even more impressive gains come from the likes of SOL, DOGE, ADA, SUI, LINK, AVAX, and SHIB.

However, the day belongs to HYPE, which has skyrocketed by 19% and now trades above $31.

With most other lower- and mid-cap alts well in the green, the total crypto market cap has soared by over $120 billion and sits beyond $3.6 trillion on CG now.

The world’s biggest football organization, FIFA, has picked Avalanche to launch its own blockchain initiative.

Dubbed FIFA Blockchain, it will operate as a Layer-1 network and will deliver digital collectibles and “next-generation fan engagement at a global scale.”

The official announcement, which went live earlier today, added that FIFA Blockchain will aim to streamline operations, optimize user experience, and deliver consistent, interoperable digital products to its fan base of billions of people.

The organization has decided to use blockchain to satisfy the growing needs for verifiable digital ownership and direct engagement between holders and audiences. Unlike traditional systems, blockchain will allow the creators to create purpose-built networks that can “scale efficiently and support meaningful user experiences.”

FIFA decided to tap Avalanche in its blockchain endeavor due to its structure that enables the “deployment of sovereign networks, known as L1s, that are optimized for high throughput, low latency, and full governance control.”

They operate independently but are fully interoperable with the entire Avalanche ecosystem as well as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) standard.

FIFA Blockchain will be led by a tech company with Web3 experience called Modex. Its CEO, Francesco Abbate, said the move enhances their ability to deliver unique digital collectibles and immersive fan experiences, powered by the speed, scalability, and EVM compatibility.

“FIFA’s selection of Avalanche technology represents a pivotal moment in the evolution of blockchain infrastructure. As one of the world’s most recognized organizations, FIFA’s move underscores Avalanche’s unique ability to support custom, high-performance networks at global scale,” reads the statement.

AVAX’s price reacted to the news as it’s up by over 10% on a daily scale, some of which could of course be liked to the overall market-wide price pumps.

Bitcoin (BTC) has entered uncharted territory, smashing through its previous all-time high (ATH) to near $112,000 on May 22.

While casual observers may chalk up this rally to the typical retail-fueled frenzies of past bull runs, analysts at Santiment are saying BTC’s current climb is being shaped by disciplined accumulation from institutional whales, and it may be just the beginning.

The experts are projecting a near-term target of $115,000 to $120,000 as the number one cryptocurrency transforms from a speculative asset to a cornerstone of institutional portfolios.

Institutional Tsunami Reshaping Bitcoin’s Market Structure

On May 21, with BTC at around $109,500, Santiment noted that the cryptocurrency’s surge past its previous ATH of $109,241, set on the day Donald Trump was inaugurated as U.S. president, came amid surprisingly low FOMO among retail traders. Ironically, this lack of retail hype may have cleared the runway for institutional capital to steadily push prices higher without the volatility often seen in retail-driven runs.

“One of the key drivers behind Bitcoin’s ascent has been a growing wave of institutional investments,” wrote Santiment, highlighting how easing macro tensions and six straight days of inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) helped push BTC to a record high.

At the center of this institutional frenzy is BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT. As of May 22, it holds 636,120 BTC, 2,000 more than the combined holdings of the next 14 biggest U.S. spot ETFs. The fund has become the preferred vehicle for heavyweight investors, with recent SEC filings showing that Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and hedge fund Citadel have significantly expanded their stakes.

However, this meteoric rise also poses questions about long-term market structure, with an analysis by CryptoQuant showing that IBIT’s size is creating a monopoly-like concentration that could squeeze out smaller issuers.

Meanwhile, corporate accumulators like Michael Saylor’s Strategy and Japan’s Metaplanet are still buying aggressively, with the two firms recently splashing $764 million and $104 million respectively to stack up their holdings.

Clear Runway to $120K

Technically, Bitcoin is now deep in price discovery mode. Over the past 30 days, it has gained 25.5%, and is up 58.7% year-over-year. With its price hovering around $110,915 at the time of writing, the asset has pumped more than 47% since its April 7 crash to $75,000.

According to Santiment, the growing presence of the flagship crypto asset in traditional financial frameworks is changing its perception and giving it new status as a mainstream store of value.

In their estimation, investor sentiment and market dynamics could soon push BTC to fresh highs. “Depending on the crowd’s own greed, we could see $115K-$120k in the near future,” the platform tweeted.

Additionally, market watchers think that with search interest and social chatter about Bitcoin at bear market lows, the divergence between price action and public enthusiasm could make the cryptocurrency’s current rally more sustainable than those before, especially with institutional whales in control.