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BTC $96,420 +2.34% ETH $3,280 +1.82% SOL $185.40 -0.92% BNB $642.50 +0.45% XRP $2.18 +3.12% DOGE $0.082 -1.50% ADA $1.05 +0.80% AVAX $42.10 +1.15%
10/09/2024

Tipping Point: New Bitcoin Whales Have Invested $100 Billion

According to data from CryptoQuant, investment by new Bitcoin "whales" has increased 13x this year, reaching nearly $108 billion on October 6. New whale investment now accounts for 48.8% of Bitcoin's realized cap, approaching the $113 billion held by older whales. Notably, this is the highest level of investment ever recorded by these investors in absolute terms. "Realized cap" is a metric that calculates the value of each unspent transaction output (UTXO) of Bitcoin, based on the price at which it was last moved.

Tipping Point: New Bitcoin Whales Have Invested $100 Billion

According to data from CryptoQuant, investment by new Bitcoin "whales" has increased 13x this year, reaching nearly $108 billion on October 6.

New whale investment now accounts for 48.8% of Bitcoin's realized cap, approaching the $113 billion held by older whales.

Notably, this is the highest level of investment ever recorded by these investors in absolute terms.

"Realized cap" is a metric that calculates the value of each unspent transaction output (UTXO) of Bitcoin, based on the price at which it was last moved.

This metric is commonly used to measure the amount of value stored in Bitcoin.

Furthermore, the relative participation rate of new whales in the realized cap recorded on October 6 reached an all-time high.

The previous record was set on May 16, 2021, when new whales held 18.2% of the network's realized cap.

CryptoQuant's dashboard defines new whales as Bitcoin addresses holding more than 1,000 BTC for less than 155 days, excluding wallets owned by centralized exchanges and miners.

Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, described the move as a "generational shift" and predicted that the realized cap of new whales will soon surpass that of older whales.

Beyond the accumulation and holding trends among new whales reflected in on-chain Bitcoin data, the number of active addresses on the network also broke out of an 11-month decline on October 8.

Jamie Coutts, Chief Digital Asset Analyst at Real Vision, highlighted this trend on X, noting that organic network growth and adoption across all Bitcoin metrics support its future as a global monetary network.

While this is a positive fundamental indicator, Coutts emphasized that the predictive power of active addresses has weakened over the past four years.

Meanwhile, a Glassnode report on October 8 revealed that the supply held by short-term Bitcoin investors waiting to take profit stands at a ratio of 1.2.

The report further noted that the sentiment of short-term holders is key to understanding recent price swings, as they represent new market demand.

On the other hand, open interest in futures contracts signals rising speculative activity. This, combined with uncertainty from macroeconomic signals, leaves the market vulnerable to volatility — driven primarily by delevering pressure and liquidations.