The so-called “whales” of the bitcoin (BTC) community didn’t appear intimidated by the recent price decline and significantly expanded their holdings.According to data from the cryptocurrency analytics company IntoTheBlock, addresses with at least 0.1% of the total supply of bitcoin, or more than $500 million, raised their holdings by a combined $1.5 billion in the final two weeks of August.
The increase occurred while inflows into centralized exchanges were near zero, suggesting that “there is organic buying demand rather than just funds moving to exchange addresses,” Lucas Outumuro, head of research at IntoTheBlock, wrote in a report.
Large-scale digital asset owners are known as whales.Because their purchases and trades have a significant impact on markets, cryptocurrency observers regularly monitor their conduct to foresee market changes.The transactions were made during a time when the price of BTC fell to a two-month low before briefly rising due to a significant court ruling in Grayscale’s effort to establish a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the United States.
According to IntoTheBlock statistics, large holders began to load up after Aug. 17, when BTC fell more than 10% to below $26,000, its lowest price since June.Additionally, they upped their shares earlier this week when fund management Grayscale defeated the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in court.The regulator was directed to examine and overturn its decision to deny converting the $14 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a more desired spot bitcoin ETF by a federal appeals court.
The court’s ruling was seen by analysts as a significant step towards the U.S. listing of the first spot BTC ETF, which would increase accessibility of the largest cryptocurrency for a new class of investors.Although BTC fell back below $26,000 on Friday, it has now recouped all of the gains from the brief rally sparked by the Grayscale decision.
Despite the weak price action, the accumulation suggests that “institutional investors are getting optimistic in bitcoin as ETF decisions approach,” Outumuro said.