The latest phase of Bitcoin accumulation has led to nearly 2 million coins being stored in newly created whale-sized wallets.
This signals a pretty big change in behavior towards Bitcoin holdings.
Massive growth in whale wallets
Bitcoin is not just for the old whales anymore. Over the past few weeks, newly created wallets have collected a total of 1.97 million Bitcoins.
This quick accumulation shows a change in behavior, happening at a time when Bitcoin’s price was still close to its all-time high.
According to Ki Young Ju from CryptoQuant, the balance of Bitcoin in wallets younger than 155 days surged over 813% this year, with an especially big rise in the past months.
New whale wallets now hold 1.97M #Bitcoin.
Each has over 1K BTC, average coin age under 155 days, excluding exchange and miner wallets, likely custodial.
Their BTC balance surged 813% YTD, taking up 9.3% of the total supply, valued at $132B today. pic.twitter.com/pxq0tcqMuW
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) October 16, 2024
Ju explained that these new whale wallets are shifting the structure of Bitcoin holdings, which could impact the future price.
This increase in whale wallets isn’t just due to older wallets moving assets for security reasons, but the trend suggests that institutions may be entering the Bitcoin market in a big way.
These new addresses also have unique formats and signatures, indicating fresh acquisitions rather than just transfers from older wallets.
Whale accumulation
This surge in whale activity coincided with a period of sideways trading for Bitcoin, when the price ranged between $50,000 and $64,000.
After this accumulation phase, Bitcoin’s price climbed to over $68,000, with Bitcoin’s dominance reaching 57.6%.
Whales have been purchasing nearly all new Bitcoin supply, especially following the last halving, which limited the daily production of new Bitcoin to just 450 coins.
Earlier in 2024, whale accumulation slowed down, giving miners a chance to hold onto their coins.
The metric measuring demand is now positive again, signaling growing interest in spot Bitcoin, making it even scarcer.
According to Ju, this is a mostly bullish sign, but of course some whales have become more sophisticated, using spot Bitcoin trading for short-term gains.
ETF purchases are behind the new whale wallets?
One of the biggest factors driving the rise in whale wallets has been the purchasing of Bitcoin by ETFs.
In October 2024 alone, ETF buyers are on track to acquire over $1 billion worth of Bitcoin, with $920 million in purchases made just this week. So far in 2024, these new whale wallets have accumulated 8.4% of Bitcoin’s total supply.
While ETFs clearly played a central role in this growth, institutional investors are likely contributing to the trend as well.
Whale wallets are generally defined as addresses holding more than 1,000 Bitcoin, and the new influx of coins into these wallets has taken even more Bitcoin off the market.
Right now, over 16 million Bitcoin are in long-term storage, including more than 2 million held by miners.
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