The number of addresses on the BTC blockchain holding more than 1,000 coins and the number of bitcoin millionaires has increased this year. Are whales buying cryptocurrencies?
The number of BTC addresses with more than a thousand coins has peaked at over 2,000 this month. This was noticed by one Twitter user in in your entry.
Whales are buying
In 2019, there was a significant increase in BTC addresses belonging to so-called whales. We are not sure who owns these addresses. They may be owned by institutional investors or exchanges. It is safe to assume that the owners of the Bakkt platform have also been buying BTC this year, as it is the basis of their futures contracts. A huge increase in buyers was also observed in December 2018, when the price of BTC fell below $3,200.
Whales may have also been accumulating a lot of BTC during the bear market in 2018 and are now HODLing. Buying when prices are falling is scary even for seasoned traders, but bear markets are also buying opportunities for some.
The increase in addresses holding more than 1,000 BTC is evidence that this is happening, and may also indicate that larger exchanges are storing more of the digital asset.
Millionaires in the Cryptocurrency World
Another chart, published by analyst Willy Woo, shows that the number of BTC millionaires is just 12,000. It is worth noting that – according to estimates – there are “only” 36 million millionaires living in the world today. Just 12,000 of them are “Bitcoin millionaires.”
This number will likely grow with price and adoption. Bitcoin is still very immature as an asset class and technology.
The strength of the Bitcoin network is shown by the hash rate, which recently reached a new record high of 110.19 EH/s according to Bitinfocharts.com. This rate is a measure of the computing power and security of the network and has been steadily increasing over the past two years.
Just two months ago, the hash rate reached 80 EH/s and grew by 37% in such a short time. Last month, it exceeded 100 EH/s for the first time.
The price of BTC today is around USD 8,500, which translates into an increase of around 1 percent on a daily basis.
