The number of Bitcoin wallets holding 100 BTC or more has reached a 17-month high. This surge was driven by a significant increase in whale holdings over the past month.
Increase in Bitcoin Wallets
According to blockchain analytics platform Santiment, over 283 wallets holding at least 100 BTC emerged within the past month alone. With this addition, the number of such wallets on the network has reached 16,120, breaking a 17-month high.
Reasons for Growth
Santiment attributed the increase in whale holdings to small traders 'impatiently' dumping their holdings amid recent price dips. The recent downturn in prices has left retail traders disappointed, leading to an increase in the number of Bitcoin whales.
Buying the Dip
Santiment also revealed that wallets with at least 10 BTC (known as sharks) are also accumulating more of the digital asset. Over the last 30 days, whales and sharks have collectively scooped up 133,000 BTC, worth approximately $7.6 billion. This occurs as small traders dump their holdings amid short-term price weakness. Vivek Sen, the founder of Bigrow Lab, pointed to a historical pattern between increased whale activity and the price of Bitcoin.
Despite the increase in whale activity, the price of BTC has yet to show a corresponding rise. At the time of writing, the cryptocurrency was trading close to $59,000, representing an 8% decline over the past week.
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