Bitcoin Whale Movements Cause Waves in Crypto Market

• Glassnode reports that Bitcoin whales now hold 46% of the supply, down from 63% in 2021.
• In the last month, whales reduced their balance by -8.7k BTC and moved 255k BTC to exchanges.
• Recent whale actions suggest internal reshuffling, with inflows to exchanges peaking during the $30k rally.

In an intriguing turn of events, the Bitcoin market, which tried to breach the $30k threshold in mid-April, witnessed a distribution trend among most wallet sizes until mid-June. However, the pattern shifted during Bitcoin’s second rally to the same mark in late June.

Glassnode’s latest report, “The Shrimp Supply Sink,” delved deep into the long-term behavior of Bitcoin whales (large holders of Bitcoin). Their research revealed a declining trend in the aggregate balance of these whale entities throughout Bitcoin’s history. These entities account for 46% of the total Bitcoin supply, plummeting from a staggering 63% at the beginning of 2021.

Interestingly, “Whale entities” here encompass exchanges, prominent centralized holdings such as ETF products, GBTC, WBTC, and corporate giants like MicroStrategy. In a quest to zero in on the actual numbers, Glassnode separated coins that were exclusively transacted between whale entities and exchanges. The results showed a significant decrease in the total balance of Whale accounts, with a reduction of 255,000 BTC since May 30th.

Aggregating the entire whale faction, including exchanges, the net reduction stands at a mere -8.7k BTC over the preceding month. Surprisingly, despite the dramatic figures displayed in the Trend Accumulation Score, whales have remained relatively neutral recently.

Data indicates a massive 255k BTC flow from whales to exchanges, with individual sub-cohorts observing a balance shift ranging from -49k to +33.8k BTC. The total whale group experienced a net outflow of just -8.7k BTC.

Glassnode’s analysis termed the “Whale Reshuffling Hypothesis,” aims to pinpoint periods when one whale group witnesses an uptick in balance while another registers a decline of a similar magnitude. An interval matching this criterion coincided seamlessly with the latest market hike to the $30k realm, suggesting that the recent whale activities primarily involve internal reshuffling via exchanges.

Another noteworthy trend during the rally was the spike in whale inflow volumes to exchanges, reaching a whopping +16.3k BTC/day. This translates to a 41% dominance in all exchange inflows, mirroring similar peaks observed during the LUNA crash (39%) and the FTX’s debacle (33%).