According to a recent report by Chainalysis, 36% of bitcoin in circulation is lost and 23% is being held by speculators- waiting for prices to surge. According to the report, 30% of those who hold the bitcoin in circulation right now are the real investors.
Previously Chainalysis had revealed that long-term investors had sold over $24 billion worth of bitcoin of Bitcoin to speculators. This had happened between December 2017 and April 2018 with half of the total amount being sold in the month of December.
This revelation shed a light to the reason why bitcoin took a dramatic turn for the worse earlier in the year. The speculators tried to sell off bitcoin and make some money and every time prices slipped, it only triggered a selloff which meant prices kept going further down.
However, in this recent finding which was conducted up until August, the firm noted that investors held on to bitcoin over summer. This finding directly relates to our reporting on the market maturing over the past 9 months. It also relates to what The Federal Reserve researchers noted a few months ago;
“For emerging financial systems, such as the crypto-economy, building an understanding of the underlying economic signals is a key factor in empowering participants to make more informed decisions. People are simply less likely to stay in and are less well served by, a market that appears random and based on hype. If we can identify and monitor clear signals —and those signals are logical— more people will feel comfortable investing. That’s where data can play an important role,”
According to the data provided by Chainalysis, it seems the market is becoming more stable and less sensitive to speculation and hype. According to the report, speculation has remained stable between May and August at around 22% and investors have remained with just over 30% during the same period.
In conclusion, the report notes that the first stage of adoption of cryptocurrencies is over -getting them in people’s hands, and we can only wait and see what will be the next stage of adoption.
At the time of press, bitcoin is trading at $6,563.41, a price fall of about 1% in the last 24 hours. Its dominance is still well over 50% in the market and has a market cap of $113,541,540,366.
