Bitcoin whales hoard $22.8 billion in BTC despite market slump

Bitcoin whales have been actively hoarding significant amounts of the cryptocurrency over the past month during the market downturn.

On-chain activity has revealed that more than 404,448 BTC, valued at approximately $22.8 billion, have been moved to permanent holder addresses in the past 30 days.

Bitcoin Whale Hoarding

CryptoQuant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju highlighted this in an Aug. 6 post on X, saying, “I’m pretty sure there’s something going on behind the scenes.”

This refers to an increase in the 30-day demand change for permanent BTC holders. Ki Young Ju observed in late July that bitcoin appears to be in a different accumulation phase, with 358,000 BTC moved to permanent holder addresses during the month. He also noted that global spot ETF inflows accounted for an additional 53,000 BTC in July.

He said: “Although not all remaining BTC is in custody wallets, the whales are clearly piling up. And it’s an unprecedented level.”

Ki also predicted that within a year, entities such as traditional financial institutions, companies or governments could announce substantial acquisitions of bitcoins in the third quarter of 2024.

He warned retail investors that they may regret not buying during the current period of uncertainty, which includes fears about possible large sales by the German government and the trustee of Mt. Gox and broader macroeconomic concerns.

More bullish indicators

In another post on X, Ki highlighted several bullish factors supporting current market conditions.

The hashrate recovery indicates that the capitulation of miners is nearing its end, with the metric approaching all-time highs. US mining costs are approximately $43,000 per BTC, suggesting stability in the hashrate unless bitcoin prices fall below this threshold.

Also, retail investors are largely absent, which is similar to market conditions in mid-2020. Also, old whales sold their holdings to new whales between March and June, reducing selling pressure important of these long-term holders.

However, Ki also identified some bearish factors to watch out for. Macro risks could lead to forced selling, as evidenced by Jump Trading’s large crypto deposits and a year-to-date high in daily deposits on Binance. Some chain indicators have turned bearish, albeit borderline. If these bearish trends persist for more than two weeks, the market recovery could face challenges.

Ki concluded with a cautiously optimistic outlook, stating that based on current data, he believed the bull market was still intact. He mentioned that if the market did not recover in two weeks, he would reassess the situation.

Ki added that he followed the “smart money,” so if his assessment was wrong, it could mean the new whales either misunderstood the situation or underestimated the macroeconomic environment.

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