1.97 Million BTC Held by New Bitcoin Whales: Details
2024-10-16

Notable insights are beginning to emerge from the Bitcoin ecosystem that might explain the recent activities in the space. Analysis of Bitcoin whales' activities has revealed interesting details. In a post on X, Ki Young Ju, CryptoQuant's founder and CEO, says new whales currently hold 1.97 million Bitcoin.
Institutional influence growing
According to Young Ju, these new whales each possess over 1,000 BTC, in exchange-traded funds (ETF) and custodial wallets. Interestingly, these whales' average holding period of the assets falls under 155 days. The HODLers are approximately five months into the market.
New whale wallets now hold 1.97M #Bitcoin.
Each has over 1K BTC, average coin age under 155 days, excluding exchange and miner wallets, likely custodial. 
Their BTC balance surged 813% YTD, taking up 9.3% of the total supply, valued at $132B today. pic.twitter.com/pxq0tcqMuW— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) October 16, 2024
Additionally, the whales’ wallets appear to belong to institutional investors, custodians or companies, not retail traders. The wallets' not linking to exchanges or mining operations clearly indicates this assumption.
Despite clocking average HODLing of five months, the whales engaged in aggressive Bitcoin accumulation. A look at their balance sheet shows an astronomical surge of 813% year-to-date in 2024 alone. 
Some market watchers believe the German government's offloading of Bitcoin may have been an opportunity for some of these massive accumulations.
The Bitcoin held by these wallets is valued at approximately $132 billion at the current market price. Overall, the whales hold 9.3% of the total Bitcoin supply. The data indicates that these whales' actions could impact the broader market.
Market impact and investor sentiment
As of this writing, data shows the Bitcoin price has corrected to $67,624.48, a 2.87% rise in the past 24 hours. The asset briefly broke the $68,000 level of resistance when it hit $68,135 in earlier trading. Investors remain bullish and anticipate a further rise if momentum stays.
Given these whales' control and possible impact on the market, investors will hope they make a manageable amount of sales. Notably, experts say that if whales decide to sell due to the price rebounding, they could crash the price of Bitcoin in what appears to be an Uptober rally.