Is This Really Bullish for Bitcoin? Select Group of BTC Holders Increased Their Holdings Recently

As estimated by the behavior analytics platform Santiment, Bitcoin sharks and whales (those addresses holding between 10 to 10,000 BTC) now own over 66% of the circulating supply of the primary cryptocurrency.

This is the highest level recorded in 2023 so far, as those investors have been particularly active after BlackRock filed to launch a spot BTC ETF in the United States.

BTC and USDT Whales are Accumulating Again

Santiment revealed that the latest purchasing efforts displayed by Bitcoin sharks and whales started on September 28 when the cryptocurrency market showed signs of serious revival. 

Per CoinGecko’s data, the price of the leading digital asset is up 2.5% in the past 24 hours, while the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization – Ether (ETH) – has charted gains of approximately 4%.

The platform also estimated that Tether sharks and whales have also splashed the water. They have accumulated “buying power” and currently hold 15.03B total coins, which is a six-week-high.

🐳 #Bitcoin‘s sharks & whales, which we define as 10 to 10K $BTC wallets, have now accumulated to their highest amount held in 2023 (13.03M $BTC). Additionally #Tether sharks & whales are accumulating buying power. This is generally a #bullish combination. https://t.co/Lic2QBXSUw pic.twitter.com/dIcq1sUNJY

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) September 28, 2023

When Were the Pivotal Moments?

As CryptoPotato previously reported, such large investors started purchasing BTC en masse in June, shortly after the financial giant BlackRock displayed its intentions to introduce a spot Bitcoin ETF in the States. They bought over $2 billion worth of the asset between June 17 and July 10. 

Sharks and whales were also active last month when the crypto market experienced a severe correction. Those investors purchased more than 11,600 BTC between August 17 (the day of the crash) and August 25.