The number of bitcoin “whales” – large investors with an ability to influence market trends – has jumped to four-year highs alongside the recent price rally.
- As of Sunday, the population of whale entities – clusters of addresses held by a single network participant holding at least 1,000 BTC – was 1,939, the highest since September 2016, according to data source Glassnode.
- The whale entities metric increased by 2.2% last week, possibly adding to bullish pressures around bitcoin's price.
- The top cryptocurrency by market value rose by over 13% last week to register its best single-week performance since April.
- The uptrend gathered steam on Wednesday after PayPal announced support for bitcoin and prices reached 13-month highs above $13,300 on Thursday.
- The number of whale entities has increased by more than 13% this year alongside a 20% rise in the U.S. dollar supply.
- The data shows high net-worth individuals increasingly consider bitcoin a hedge against inflation, according to Willy Woo, an on-chain analyst and the author of The Bitcoin Forecast newsletter.
- Several top public companies have recently disclosed bitcoin investments, providing a strong vote of confidence in the cryptocurrency's future.
- Hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones believes bitcoin's rally has just begun.
- As per the technical charts, the cryptocurrency is looking north, having cleared resistance with a weekly close (Sunday, UTC) above $12,500.
- The focus now is on the June 2019 high of $13,800.
- Bitcoin is trading near $13,160 at press time, up 0.75% on the day.
- Disclosure: The author holds small positions in bitcoin and litecoin.
Also read: Active Bitcoin Addresses at Highest Since 2017’s $20K Price Record
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