Bitcoin-holding addresses plummet by 670,000, bullish or bearish?

Bitcoin wallet addresses holding actual BTC have declined significantly over the past month. According to blockchain analytics firm, Santiment, the declining numbers could be the news that investors need.

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Santiment reported on July 18th that Bitcoin wallets holding more than 0 Bitcoin have declined “aggressively” in the past month. According to Santiment, retail traders believe that Bitcoin’s all-time high price in March will seemingly not be breached again until the year ends. 

Data from the firm revealed that the address count fell by 672,510, indicating mass liquidations. However, Santiment insisted that the mass liquidations are a positive indication of an incoming rally and that the chances of a continued rebound have increased.

The Bitcoin wallet decline signifies an imminent bull run

Santiment detailed that the recent prolonged drop witnessed in Bitcoin holders’ address count mimics the drop observed between September and mid-October last year. The sharp drop happened coincidentally just before the current bull run began.

Cryptoquant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju also expressed his bullish analysis of recent developments unfolding in the Bitcoin ecology. In an X post dated July 17th, Ju stated that over-the-counter markets have saturated centralized exchange markets. 

Ju also added that wallets holding more than 1000 BTC, including custodial wallets and the recently established Bitcoin ETFs, have added almost 1.5 million BTC since January, bringing the total tally to 1.8 million BTC. The crypto pioneer also compared Bitcoin’s total inflow in 2021 (70,000 BTC) with the current inflow rate of 100,000 BTC per week.

Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg ETF research analyst,  posted on X that more than $300 million worth of Bitcoin inflows went into ETF market participants on Tuesday, July 17th, with IBIT leading the pack. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF IBIT recorded inflows worth $260 million in a single day.

Balchunas and other Bloomberg ETF researchers had previously anticipated that the ETF market would reach inflows worth 12$ to $15 billion in the first year after the U.S. SEC’s approval. However, the market proved them wrong and recorded inflows worth $16 billion in just 6 months.

Trading volume on CEXs also falls 

Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs) also recorded a decline in trading volume in June from peak levels recorded in March. According to a markets report by CCData, the trading volume for all centralized exchanges on Spot and derivatives fell by 53% to $4.2 trillion from a $9 trillion high recorded towards the end of March.

The report associated the decline in spot and derivatives trading volume with the market fear due to concerns of possible liquidations by Mt. Gox creditors. The now-defunct Japanese exchange recently distributed part of its creditors’ funds to Kraken, a crypto exchange, to facilitate the distribution process. Arkham intelligence reported that the exchange sent 48,000 BTC to a wallet believed to belong to Kraken.

The concerns were also fuelled by a series of transactions initiated by the German government to offload its Bitcoin holdings.