Bitcoin will surpass $20,000 if U.S. banks invest just 1% of their assets, according to one crypto analyst.

Capriole digital asset manager Charles Edwards said it was “not hard to see” the unfolding trend, whilst talking about the institutional uptake of Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation.

Edwards said on Twitter: “If U.S. banks put just 1% of their assets into Bitcoin as an investment, hedge or insurance… the Bitcoin price more than doubles.”

He added: “Just 1 NASDAQ stock (Grayscale) already owns 2% of circulating Bitcoin supply today. It's not hard to see where this is going.”

Edwards uploaded a chart showing U.S. banks’ growing asset balances to confirm the possible impact that a lean towards Bitcoin would have on the digital currency, reports Cointelegraph.

Grayscale is now a major holder of Bitcoin, along with payment firm Square, responsible for purchasing the majority of mined coins in 2020.

Earlier this week, lenders in the U.S. were given the go ahead from regulators to engage in cryptocurrency custody activities.

Whether or not an influx from the sector would be advantageous to Bitcoin as an asset is still a controversial subject. There have been past fears that products such as a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) could negatively impact price discovery.

Edwards went on to add: “It's not a matter of good or bad, it's just a fact.”

That said, the recent action stresses the market’s upward trajectory. Indeed, bullish Bitcoin investor Paul Tudor Jones recently announced he has put as much as 2% of his wealth into Bitcoin.

deVere CEO and founder Nigel Green was recently quoted as saying: “Combined with the fact that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are digital and global, and the world is becoming increasingly digitalised and globalised; that demographic trends are on its side; and that institutional investors, central banks and major corporations are all coming off the sidelines, the long-term trajectory is inevitably upwards.”