Tanya Abrosimova
Independent Analyst
- The number of active Bitcoin wallets has been growing since October 2018.
- A resurgence of whales may become a source of great market volatility.
Experts of a research and analytics provider Flipside Crypto noticed that an increased number of dormant bitcoin wallets have been showing signs of life.
Holders, that hadn't touched their coins for a long period from six months up to two and a half years, have been recovering from a hibernation state since October. The trend is gaining traction as now over 60% of all coins mined so far is stored in active wallets - those that have been active within the recent 30 days.
“It’s definitely a big shift. There’s more potential than usual for price swings," Eric Stone, head of data science at Flipside, explained in an interview with Bloomberg.
A similar surge of wallets activity was registered ahead of strong growth of cryptocurrency market volatility in 2015 and 2017. In 2017 it pushed the digital coin to its all-time high close to $20 000.
It is worth noting, that the industry is plagued by a so-called concentration of ownership. About 1,000 of wallets control 85% of Bitcoins in circulation. Those holders are known as whales and many of them have been dormant during the recent years that saw Bitcoin surge to eye-watering $20 00o and collapse back to $3,100.
“We’ve definitely seen that many long-time holders of Bitcoin are becoming active," David Balter, chief executive officer of Flipside, explained.
“The fact that those wallets have been recently active leads us to believe they could soon be active again. Put another way: We have no reason to expect them to remain stagnant for other 2-plus years,” he added.
This development may result in the strong growth of Bitcoin volatility, while the direction of the price movements is still unclear. We shall wait and see how things will play out.
BTC/USD is hovering around $3,500 handle. The coin touched $4,110 during the previous week and lost 15% of its value since that time. A failure to get back above $3,800 handle will bode ill for the short-term perspectives of the coin. Another wave of sell-off may take it to the lowest level of 2018 at $3,127.
Note: All information on this page is subject to change. The use of this website constitutes acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer. Opinions expressed at FXstreet.com are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXstreet.com or its management. Risk Disclosure: Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to invest in foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks
Ripple wipes out weekly gains, experts comment on role of Ripple stablecoin
Ripple declined to $0.52 on Thursday, erasing all gains registered earlier this week. Ripple SVP Eric van Miltenburg’s comments on the firm’s stablecoin, and how it is expected to benefit the XRP Ledger and native token XRP have raised concerns among crypto experts.
Hedera HBAR slips nearly 10% after air is cleared on mistaken link with giant BlackRock
HBAR price is down nearly 10% on Thursday, partly erasing gains inspired by the misinterpreted link with BlackRock. Despite the recent correction, Hedera’s price is up 44% in the past seven days.
The reason behind Bonk’s 105% rise and if you should buy now Premium
Bonk price has shot up 105% in the past five weeks. A retracement into $0.0000216 or the $0.0000152 to $0.0000186 imbalance would be a good buying opportunity. Patient investors can expect double-digit gains from BONK that could extend up to 70%.
Injective price weakness persists despite over 5.9 million INJ tokens burned
Injective price is trading with a bearish bias, stuck in the lower section of the market range. The bearish outlook abounds despite the network's deflationary efforts to pump the price. Coupled with broader market gloom, INJ token’s doomed days may not be over yet.
Bitcoin: BTC post-halving rally could be partially priced in Premium
Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly slipped below the $60,000 level for the last three days, attracting buyers in this area as the fourth BTC halving is due in a few hours. Is the halving priced in for Bitcoin? Or will the pioneer crypto note more gains in the coming days?