Bitcoin Whales, Sharks ‘Handsomely Rewarded’ After Grayscale’s Victory Against SEC: Data

Long-term Bitcoin holders have proved to be highly resilient but data suggest that this cohort of market players had the inkling of a favorable outcome.

Bitcoin received a major push following the Grayscale court victory against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, preceding this event, there was significant accumulation amidst a period of low volatility.

Bitcoin Whales and Sharks Hodling Behavior

According to Santiment’s latest analysis, BTC whales and sharks might have had some insights into the result of the Grayscale and SEC lawsuit.

Data suggest that wallets holding between 10,000 to 10,000 BTC accumulated 14,596 BTC (worth a combined total of more than $388 million) leading up to the crucial ruling.

In fact, BTC sharks and whales had the biggest accumulation jump of the summer right before the bullish ETF news. This cohort of BTC investors was “handsomely rewarded” following the market recovery that prompted Bitcoin to surge by over 6% to just over $28,000.

🐳 Whales & sharks may have known a thing or two about the outcome of the #Grayscale and #SEC lawsuit, with 10-10K $BTC wallets accumulating a collective $388.3M in $BTC the day leading up to the news. They were handsomely rewarded with a +6% price jump. https://t.co/j28CwVYKS6 pic.twitter.com/cx5rRuS6IV

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) August 30, 2023

This aligns with the fact that nearly 30,000 BTC were sent to crypto exchanges during the same period, which effectively increased the exchange supply from 1.13 million to 1.16 million BTC. Besides, the recent surge in BTC value was speculated to have been driven by derivatives exchanges rather than spot ones.

Accumulation Spree

A recent report by Bitfinex revealed that long-term BTC investors are consistently amassing more and extending their holding durations.

This trend signals a renewed sense of optimism within the market as 40% of the total Bitcoin supply has stayed inactive for over three years, a record high in this regard. Bitfinex leveraged the ‘Coin Days Destroyed’ metric, which helped gauge an interesting trend that long-held digital assets have predominantly remained dormant on the blockchain.

“It’s evident that long-term Bitcoin holders have been on a net accumulation spree. Specifically, on a rolling 30-day basis, this trend of accumulating has been consistently observed since March 2023. The behavior insinuates a broader sentiment of optimism and potential resilience against market volatilities.”

The report also observed that holders who have maintained their Bitcoin holdings from three years ago or even earlier, spanning both the peak of the bull market and the subsequent bear market, have displayed remarkable resilience in their accumulation.

Meanwhile, the “newer” long-term holders who acquired their spot positions over the bear market are currently “unsettled but not in a state of panic.” These buyers have weathered the price decline from $30,000 to sub $25,000 in April but eventually chose to liquidate their positions when the price dipped below the $29,000 range low in July with no upward momentum since.

The metric has been on the rise, indicating that their potential selling was a one-time event aimed at realizing some profit rather than a shift in their sentiment to bearish.