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Holders Gonna HODL: Most Of Bitcoin Supply Did Not Move Since 2018

Esther Kim | May 20, 2019 | 11:00

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The Bitcoin bull market is changing investor habits – but the vast majority of the supply has stayed in the same wallet since 2018.

10.5 Million Bitcoins Dormant

Analysis of data from BitInfoCharts and social media transaction monitoring resource Whale Alerts produced some interesting reading this week.

Despite the Bitcoin price rise which began in April, seeing BTC/USD jump from $4,000 to over $8,300, HODLers are still accumulating – while keeping their coins static.

According to BitInfoCharts, around 10.5 million BTC has not left its wallet since May 5, 2018. The figure is just over double the 5.28 million BTC from January 5, 2017, before Bitcoin’s bull run to current all-time highs of $20,000.

Roughly 17.7 million bitcoin out of 21 million have already been mined.

The figure keeps rising – countering the concept that Bitcoin price rises have sparked increased trading activity throughout the community.

Nonetheless, as Bitcoinist reported, last week saw new daily trade volume records for Bitcoin, with two all-time highs back to back as BTC/USD passed $8000.

2 Days, 6 Transactions, $200 Million

The network is still not without its big moves. According to Whale Alerts, May 19 saw a total of 10,500 BTC move between wallets in three separate transactions with a combined total value of $83.4 million.

The trend continued Monday, with three more transactions in quick succession transfering over 16,000 BTC ($127.3 million).

Beyond the whales, however, analysts are still attempting to come to terms with the unexplained enthusiasm which has fuelled Bitcoin’s growth for almost two months.

Republishing a fresh chart from two industry sources May 16, entrepreneur Tuur Demeester reinforced the concept that the May 2020 Bitcoin block reward halving could be influencing markets in advance.

Carrying on a thesis borne out by previous research, Demeester agreed the April to May bull run constituted an expansion phase which would thereafter give way to a brief period of accumulation. A ‘real’ bull market would then take over – mirroring three previous cycles in which Bitcoin price behaved identically.

Though, BitMEX CEO, Arthur Hayes, has already proclaimed that the real bull market is here, given the strong BTC price recovery over the weekend.

The bull market is real. A momentary dip below 7k, and a few days later we are back above 8k and the Sep and Dec contracts are in contango. Booyah! pic.twitter.com/qknhDQ8i7p

— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) May 19, 2019

With each bull run culminating in a peak price higher than the last, the theory would thus serve to guarantee that a 2020 all-time high would be just that: an order of magnitude higher than the $20,000 of December 2017.

At press time, bitcoin price 00 had begun to challenge $8000 again after fluctuating around the barrier over the past 48 hours.

Local highs came Sunday night, when BTC/USD reached $8279 before retracing, having entirely reversed its previous losses which produced lows of $6740 May 16.

What do you think about Bitcoin HODLing behavior? Let us know in the comments below!

Images via Shutterstock, Bitfinfocharts.com