- 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
XRP price extends losses on Tuesday, risks decline below support at $0.60
XRP price dropped closer to its psychologically important support level at $0.60 on Tuesday amidst a steep correction in the crypto ecosystem. Most of the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization have noted a decline in their prices on March 19.
Avalanche price could rise 20% on gaming narrative ahead of GDC conference
Avalanche is an outlier on Monday, rallying while the broader market crashes. It has outperformed Bitcoin price, as well as meme and AI crypto coins, sectors that have been thriving of late. AVAX’s good fortune comes ahead of the Game Developers Conference.
Bitcoin price shows weakness, but new BTC whales have created solid support at $56,400
Bitcoin downside momentum strengthens, giving sidelined and late bulls a chance to buy the dip. The market remains focussed on the oncoming halving, expected to kick off the next bull cycle.
Crypto AI token rally persists, ignited by NVIDIA AI conference
NVIDIA AI conference, starting on Monday, is considered a key AI event as market participants await the unveiling of the next AI chip, B100. NVIDIA’s influence extends to the mining sector in crypto as its chips are focused on high-performance GPUs.
Bitcoin: Can BTC hit $100,000 without a correction?
Bitcoin (BTC) price shows a slowdown in momentum as it set up a new all-time high of $73,949 on March 13. Considering the massive uptrend that BTC has been experiencing, a short-term correction is nothing to be concerned about.