HODLing on the Rise, Wallets w/ More Than 1k BTC Hit All-Time High

As the bitcoin (BTC) whale population continues to grow to a fresh all-time high, hardcore HODLing also appears to be on the rise, with coins not moved for at least two years hitting the highest level since June 2017.

After months of accumulation by the largest bitcoin holders, the number of wallet addresses with more than 1,000 BTC saw another all-time high this week after breaking the previous record from September 2019 of 2,184 addresses, according to BitInfoCharts’ Bitcoin Rich List.

According to the same source, 2,190 bitcoin wallet addresses now hold more than 1k BTC, suggesting that the largest whales on the bitcoin network have steadily been accumulating more coins this year.

The finding was also shared on Twitter this week by the Cryptounfolded account, along with a chart showing the number touching the record high.

As previously reported by Cryptonews.com, however, it has been speculated that the increasing number of bitcoin whales could be a result of declining exchange balances of bitcoin. Bitcoin exchange balances have been in decline for the better part of 2020, reaching yet another yearly low in July of about 2.62 million BTC held on exchanges.

And although uncertainty around the exact reasons for the growing number of whales remains, there is also a steadily growing number of addresses that are defined by the on-chain analytics firm Glassnode as “accumulation addresses.”

According to the firm, all of these have in common that they have had at least two incoming transactions, have never spent any coins, and that they have been active at one point in the past 7 years (to account for lost coins).

According to Glassnode, the number of wallets that fall into this category has reached an all-time high of 508,971.

Meanwhile, new data from the same firm also showed that the share of the circulating BTC supply that hasn’t moved for at least two years has grown significantly, and now stands at 44%. The higher figure indicates that ‘HODLing’ is in no way out of fashion, with Glassnode noting that the metric has increased by 10 percentage points from the beginning of the year.

Increased levels of long-term HODLing is normally seen as a strong sign for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with the assumption being that these HODLers are stronger hands that are unlikely to sell their coins, even in the face of losses.

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Learn more:
Number of Addresses with BTC 1 Rising, while Bitcoin is Leaving Exchanges
Bitcoin Balances on Exchanges Reach New Low