- The number of Bitcoin whales (addresses with 1000+ BTC) has increased by over 12% in a little under a year
- The number of whale wallets only dropped 20% in H2 of 2019 as the Bitcoin price dropped 50%
- Activity could be an example of institutional buyers increasing their capital
The number of Bitcoin whales in existence has increased by over 12% in a little under a year, with 1,000+ BTC holders unfazed by its crazy price action this year. This increase shows a growing faith in the cryptocurrency at a time when central banks are printing money hand over fist in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, despite many whales currently holding at a loss after buying during the mega run of 2019.
The number of #Bitcoin whales (entities holding at least 1,000 $BTC) has increased by 8.9% in the past year.https://t.co/UyP0uwZW5V pic.twitter.com/9HrUVq56lH
— glassnode (@glassnode) June 12, 2020
Bitcoin Whales Explosion Started in 2019
The upward trend was started by a huge increase in late July last year, when the number of Bitcoin whales shot up from 1,670 to 1,775 in the space of ten days following Bitcoin’s epic run to $13,850. This represents a huge buyup of Bitcoin, and indeed it is clearly evident from the chart that this buyup was largely responsible for Bitcoin’s rebound from $9,500 to $12,000 in August.
Immediately after this explosion in whale numbers however, Bitcoin’s price began to collapse. Common sense and history would have told you that this would have precipitated a similar collapse in the number of whale wallets, as those whales who bought in thinking Bitcoin was about to break all-time highs sold off.
Interestingly however this simply didn’t happen – only 2% of wallets lost their whale status throughout the rest of 2019, even as the Bitcoin price dropped 51%, with the overwhelming majority holding onto their tokens. This suggests a different mindset than in previous years and a renewed confidence in Bitcoin – only two in every hundred whales was worried that Bitcoin would not regain its local highs, even as it dropped to $6,700 within six months.
Proof of Institutional Buying?
Ever since 2017 there has been talk that institutions and wealthy family funds are putting their funds into Bitcoin due to its fundamental properties compared with traditional markets, with the impact of coronavirus thought to have ramped this up.
Ever since the local low of 1,740 whale wallets in January of this year the number has been steadily increasing as the pandemic has crippled economies and markets, with the number of Bitcoin whales increasing over 7% during this period alone. This suggests that, after years of talk, the facts might finally be aligning with the sentiment.
