A number of Bitcoin addresses that have “never had a Bitcoin outflow” are currently accumulating the flagship cryptocurrency at an unprecedented pace, to the point they are now holding 2.9 million BTC, worth around $194 billion at the time of writing.
In a newly published report, CryptoQuant analyst Burak Kesmeci noted that the total amount of BTC in “Bitcoin accumulation addresses” was at around 1.5 million coins at the beginning of the year, and that the figure has now nearly doubled over the past 10 months.
These addresses, the analyst added, continue to “accumulate patiently and boldly without selling off their holdings” and have never had a Bitcoin outflows so far as they are focused on long-term investing.
According to the analyst, these Bitcoin accumulation addresses hold at least 10 BTC and are notably not exchange cold storage addresses, but instead “belong entirely to individual or institutional investors” that have “made at least two transfers and have been active at least once in the last seven years.
Kesmeci also added that back in 2018 these addresses held 100,000 BTC, and that their accumulation kept on growing since then, to the point that the figure “shot up to 700,000” by the 2021 bull rally.
This year the “real growth happened” as they moved toward the 3 million BTC mark – which the analyst estimates could occur before the end of this year – which would put their entire holdings above the market capitalizations of giant corporations like General Electric, if BTC’s price is to rise to $70,000 by year end.
Notably, earlier this year the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the country. These have so far this year seen over $20 billion in total inflows, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) leading with $22.4 billion inflows.
The only spot Bitcoin ETFs seeing outflows year-to-date are the Hashdex Bitcoin ETF (DEFI) with $1.79 million outflows, and Grayscale’s GBTC with $20.1 billion in outflows.
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