“Should Have Bought” is a news podcast by the ForkLog editorial team covering the week’s major industry events and the hottest tokens.
Topics: multi-year low in bitcoin reserves, a new wave of price surges, forecasts from the head of BlackRock, and Trump’s increasing election chances.
Special guest: crypto trader Vladimir Cohen.
Participants: ForkLog authors Vladimir Sliper and Alex K.
New Whales
Experts at CryptoQuant have noted an increase in the number and activity of “new institutional players.”
“We are witnessing unprecedented buying pressure due to a new wave of accumulation. New ‘whales’ are buying up bitcoin, pushing its price upwards. Currently, they hold 1.97 million BTC. It is important to note that this is not only the result of spot bitcoin ETFs; other major players are also involved,” said analyst J. A. Maartunn.
The company classifies “new whales” as wallets with a balance of more than 1000 BTC, which do not belong to miners or exchanges, and the age of the coins stored on them does not exceed 155 days.
CryptoQuant analysts also noted a decline in bitcoin reserves on centralized exchanges to a multi-year low. This trend indicates a reduction in the liquid supply of the first cryptocurrency and points to the growing popularity of non-custodial storage aimed at the long term.
ATH Approaches
On October 16, the price of the leading cryptocurrency surpassed the $68,000 mark. Bitcoin pulled most other digital assets into the “green zone.”
Amid the rally’s resumption, the cryptocurrency fear and greed index reached 72.
Bernstein analysts linked the market revival to the increased chances of Donald Trump winning the upcoming US presidential election. JPMorgan agrees with this assessment.
Optimism from BlackRock’s CEO
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink believes that the adoption of bitcoin as an alternative to gold and other exchange-traded commodities will continue to grow. He compared the current stage of cryptocurrency development to the early years of the mortgage market, which is now valued at $11 trillion.
Fink emphasized that bitcoin’s growth depends more on liquidity than regulation. The influx of capital will ensure increased transparency and improved analytical tools. In his view, it does not matter to the crypto industry who becomes the next US president.
The head of BlackRock also expressed confidence in the future expansion of Ethereum’s use as an investment asset.
600 Million Cryptocurrency Owners
According to a16z crypto’s report, there are about 617 million cryptocurrency owners worldwide, but only 30-60 million of them actively use their assets each month. This means that only 5-10% of cryptocurrency owners are truly engaged in the ecosystem, which presents significant opportunities to attract the rest.
The situation may change with infrastructure improvements that make decentralized applications more appealing and convenient.
According to Tether, by the end of the third quarter of 2024, the stablecoin USDT was used by 330 million crypto wallets and on-chain accounts. This figure does not include users of centralized exchanges, which the company estimates to be several tens of millions more.
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