- Bitcoin’s value is increasing over anticipation of spot ETF product launch
- The richest address belonged to Binance, with 249K BTC
- The wealthiest addresses belong to online wallets and cold wallets of exchanges
The number of crypto wallet addresses holding more than $1 million’s worth of the flagship crypto increased threefold in 2023 according to BitInfoCharts data. This number saw a 237% increase in the last 11 months.
During the last bull market two years ago, a record 112,573 addresses held more than a million of Bitcoin.
Spot ETF is pushing prices up
Bitcoin’s value is increasing due to market anticipation of the launch of a number of spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) products. According to Bloomberg analysts, a spot Bitcoin ETF stands a very good chance of approval early next year, and many stakeholders expect the price of Bitcoin to skyrocket thereafter.
Not all insiders are so optimistic. Certain basics are needed for a full reversal of the prolonged bearish trend.
Introducing the top 4
In April 2023, the richest address belonged to Binance, with 248,597 BTC accounting for more than 1% of the circulating BTC supply worth more than $7.3 billion. A BitFinex wallet held 178,010, orabout 0.92% of the supply. The third richest, also associated with Binance, held127,351 Bitcoin.
The fourth-wealthiest wallet belonged to an anonymous whale, holding 119,347 BTC valued at around $3.5 billion.
According to theNational Bureau of Economic Research, it’s not that easy to determine the concentration of ownership. Many of the richest addresses belong to online wallets and cold wallets of exchanges, which hold Bitcoin on behalf of their clients.
Corporate whales
Corporations such as MicroStrategy, Tesla, and Ark Invest have also accumulated BTC over the years. The US-based software company is the largest publicly traded corporate owner of Bitcoin in the world.
They remain bullish on the flagship crypto despite suffering impairment losses of almost $1.3 billion from their holdings in 2022, as their fourth-quarter and annual earnings reports revealed. MicroStrategy will persevere despite the paper losses.
In mid-2022, El Salvador held about 2,301 Bitcoin. The Central American nation’s ownership structure remains unclear.
