There are over 22 million Bitcoin wallets currently holding varying amounts of BTC on the network. While most people believe they are the only ones with little BTC in their wallets, a recent analysis by Delphi, a digital asset investment and distributed ledger technology firm, revealed that more than 80% of the total number of wallets hold below $100.
According to the analysis, only 20% of all wallets hold more than $100 while almost half the total number holds just over $3 worth of BTC. Those holding up to $1,000 account for only 7% of the total number while less than 600 addresses hold up to $10,000,000 worth of BTC.
The analysis also reveals that most investors hold between $34,000 and $340,000 worth of BTC which makes up only 25% of the over 22 million wallets while those described as the “whales” hold between $341 million and $3.4 billion worth of BTC. This group makes up less than 3% of the number of wallets and have been accused of manipulating the BTC price with their enormous wealth.
The result of this analysis shows that there is a wide gap between BTC wallet owners and it also suggests that those who control the really large amount of BTC (the whales) are capable of manipulating the market.
For instance, if a whale should sell up to a billion worth of BTC in one day, this will certainly impact the market because a significant amount of the asset has been exchanged for fiat.
Meanwhile, there have been several incidences of Bitcoin whales sending large amounts of BTC amounting to hundreds of millions of Dollars to random addresses. Most of the addresses are dormant prior to making the transfer.
Is it possible that the current bear market has been initiated by massive sell-offs by the whales? Because the 80% of people holding less than $100 worth of BTC cannot cause any tangible price change if they sell their assets.
Although there is speculation that the “whales” are behind the price changes, there is no sufficient evidence to prove this but this BTC wallets statics should draw attention to the possibility that this may be true. What do you think? Do the whales control the price of BTC or is there something else?
