Number of People Holding Lots of Bitcoin Surges in Rare ‘Whale-Spawning Season’

Large investors continue to accumulate bitcoin and may put upward pressure on the price of the cryptocurrency.

The number of entities – clusters of crypto wallet addresses held by a single network participant with at least 1,000 Bitcoin – rose to a new record high of 1,994 on Wednesday. According to the data source Glassnode, the previous high of 1,969 in 2016 was exceeded on December 18.

The metric is up over 16% this year and 7.3% in this quarter alone. Bitcoin’s price rose over 300% in 2020 and 160% in the October through December period. At press time, the leading cryptocurrency is changing hands at over $ 28,800 per bitcoin after hitting an all-time high of $ 29,280 on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk 20 data.

“We have just entered a rare Wallaich season when very wealthy companies and institutions saw the final call to build big bitcoin businesses,” said Jehan Chu, co-founder and managing partner of Hong Kong-based trading firm Kenetic Capital, told CoinDesk. “The last land grab has started and is gathering at this point in the next year [over] 1,000 Bitcoin will be almost impossible for most people. “

The steep rise in the whale population confirms the popular narrative that increased participation from major investors fueled Bitcoin’s recent rally.

According to Sumit Gupta, CEO and Co-Founder of CoinDCX, the data shows that cryptocurrency is evolving from a speculative asset to a macro-investment asset, and this shift is mainly due to the increasing adoption by global institutions as investors from around the world.

JPMorgan analysts say that insurance firm MassMutual’s recent Bitcoin purchases indicate increased mainstream adoption and could have long-term implications for gold.

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