Oct 26, 2020 at 12:19 UTCUpdated Oct 26, 2020 at 13:23 UTC.The number of bitcoin "Whales" - large investors with an ability to influence market trends - has jumped to four-year highs alongside the recent price rally.
As of Sunday, the population of whale entities - clusters of addresses held by a single network participant holding at least 1,000 BTC - was 1,939, the highest since September 2016, according to data source Glassnode.
The whale entities metric increased by 2.2% last week, possibly adding to bullish pressures around bitcoin's price.
The uptrend gathered steam on Wednesday after PayPal announced support for bitcoin and prices reached 13-month highs above $13,300 on Thursday.
The number of whale entities has increased by more than 13% this year alongside a 20% rise in the U.S. dollar supply.
The data shows high net-worth individuals increasingly consider bitcoin a hedge against inflation, according to Willy Woo, an on-chain analyst and the author of The Bitcoin Forecast newsletter.
Several top public companies have recently disclosed bitcoin investments, providing a strong vote of confidence in the cryptocurrency's future.
Hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones believes bitcoin's rally has just begun.
Bitcoin is trading near $13,160 at press time, up 0.75% on the day.
Disclosure: The author holds small positions in bitcoin and litecoin.
Number of Bitcoin 'Whale' Addresses at Highest Since Autumn 2016
Published on Oct 26, 2020
by Coindesk | Published on Coinage
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