Bitcoin whales continue to accumulate crypto even as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) remain stuck in the red zone with the potential of further decline. The crypto market has suffered especially from the escalation of geopolitical tension in the Middle East since yesterday.
CryptoQuant founder Ki Young-Ju said on X that Bitcoin whales have increased the pace of accumulation. By crypto whales, he means both old and new BTC owners. Compared to previous years, the crypto market has never witnessed BTC accumulation at this rate.
Contrary to popular belief, BTC ETFs did not create these new whales. The BTC accumulation chart shows a negligible correlation with ETFs. Exchanges and miners are out of the equation, too, since no outflow is seen from these whale wallets. Custodial and permanent wallets have taken the lead with the ongoing BTC accumulation.
Despite the ongoing BTC accumulation, the price has not shown any signs of life because these whales are buying BTC from OTC markets without impacting exchanges. The real reason behind the market cleanup of BTC is unknown but analysts predict that whales are accumulating ahead of a bull run.
Dormant Bitcoin wallet wakes up after 10.7 years
In the past 2 hours, a dormant whale wallet for over 128 months, with a balance of 99 BTC has been activated. The wallet was worth $83,068 in 2014 but now holds around $6.09 million. Another unknown whale wallet moved 1,087 BTC worth $65.9 million to OKX.
Two days ago, crypto whale CEFFU scooped around 3,372 BTC from Binance. That’s equal to $204 million at the time of writing. The whale, formerly known as Binance Custody moved the coins in response to negative market conditions.
In the last 10 days, Bitcoin whales accumulated a total of 50,000 BTC coins, valued at $3.1 billion. In August, the whales purchased a total of 133 BTC coins. Market analysts say that whales are taking advantage of the current market conditions to accumulate while retail investors panic sell.
On the other hand, an ICO ETH whale dumped 19,000 ETH worth $44.7 million. Earlier, the same whale dumped 12,000 ETH worth $28.2 million. The massive selling caused FUD in ETH markets, which caused the price to consolidate further in the wrong direction.
BTC has declined by 6.1% while ETH lost 10.6% in the last 7 days. Currently, BTC trades at $60,492 and ETH is standing at the $2,349 mark. The 24-hour trading volume of BTC is at $38.3 billion while ETH recorded a volume of $21.4 billion.
