Long-term Bitcoin ($BTC) investors, often referred to as “hodlers,” have sold approximately 200,000 BTC since the beginning of the year, marking a consistent decrease in their holdings over the last three months.
This trend, identified by IntoTheBlock and shared by the firm on the microblogging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), is seen as normal during bull markets, reflecting a pattern of profit-taking among seasoned investors.
Per the firm, the last bull market saw BTC hodlers decreased their holdings by around 15%, while the current trend has seen them drop around 1.5% of their BTC.
Bitcoin is currently trading at around $51,000 after failing to remain above the $52,000 mark, and while it remains above the psychological $50,000 level its price has seemingly started to stabilize after a significant surge associated with the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States.
As reported, Bitcoin holdings on Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, the largest crypto trading platform in the United States, have fallen to their lowest level since 2017 as BTC whales started withdrawing funds into self-custody.
According to data from CryptoQuant whales – investors holding large amounts of Bitcoin – have withdrawn over $1 billion worth of the cryptocurrency from the platform in recent weeks, leading over 18,000 BTC off of the exchange’s wallets.
This movement coincides with increased buying activity by whales who accumulated over 100,000 BTC in just ten days, worth over $5 billion, according to popular cryptocurrency analyst Ali Martinez.
It’s unclear whether the Bitcoin addresses of spot Bitcoin ETFs were included or excluded in the data, but it underscores the growing pressure being put on Bitcoin’s supply ahead of its upcoming halving event in April, which will reduce the coinbase reward miners receive for finding blocks.
Featured image via Unsplash.