Bitcoin (BTC) has crossed a major threshold this month, and while it has nothing to do with price, it has to do with “millions.”
Data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode confirms that, as of May 18, there are more than 1 million addresses holding at least 1 BTC.
Back: Adoption trend charts the path to “hyperbitcoinization”
It has been long overdue and has received a lot of attention on social networks, and the time has finally come: there are 1 million entities that own a complete Bitcoin.
These “wholecoiners”, as those who own a Bitcoin are called in English, have been accumulating steadily since mid-2021, shows Glassnode, and the upward trend in 1-BTC wallets has seen almost no reversal since.
In 2022, however, the trend accelerated, starting the year with 814,000 wholesalers and ending it with 978,000 – an increase of 20%.
In response, Adam Back, CEO and co-founder of Bitcoin company Blockstream, called for early “hyperbitcoinization.”
If the current trend continues, the growth in the price of BTC will soon make buying it not just a luxury, but unattainable.
This would happen tweeted, “because 10 million people trying to buy 1 BTC in a few years would push the price out of reach.”
“And a lot of current hodlers aren’t selling,” he continued.
“For example, very few of the recent full minters would sell again, probably moving towards their next target for additional bitcoins, most are trying to buy more!”
As Cointelegraph reported, Long-term Bitcoin investors have been reluctant to sell during the recent bear market and subsequent price recovery.
At the same time, a rally in short-term holders, or speculators, in 2023 has some excited about the birth of a new Bitcoin bull market.
The number of whales stops the decline in 2022
Glassnode’s data, meanwhile, shows that at the other end of the spectrum, whale wallets have plateaued.
Entities with between 1,000 BTC and 9,999 BTC are now showing signs of recovery after falling from mid-2022.
Entities with more than 10,000 BTC, for their part, remain in a range they entered after the FTX collapse last November. Currently there are 117 entities of this type.
Observers such as monitoring resource Material Indicators often note that the largest classes of whales still wield the most influence over BTC price action thanks to their trading activities.
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