Bitcoin ($BTC) whales have been accumulating the flagship cryptocurrency ever since Russia started invading Ukraine. Addresses with 1,000 to 10,000 BTC have seen the amount of coins within their wallets jump by 8.3% since then.
According to on-chain analytics firm Santiment, the 2,203 addresses are at a one-year high while holding between $44.2 million and $440.2 million worth of the flagship cryptocurrency each.
The firm detailed that this group, along with the group of addresses holding between 100 and 1,000 BTC, has “historically foreshadowed price moves.” Other data appears to suggest the flagship cryptocurrency’s price is ready to move in the near future.
As CryptoGlobe reported, around $2.5 billion worth of the cryptocurrency have been moved off of popular cryptocurrency exchanges at a time in which the supply of BTC at these platforms reaches a three-year low, suggesting potential for a “significant” price rise.
Market observers have suggested the price of BTC could be “ready to rally” based on its low supply on exchanges. To Stephane Ouellette, chief executive of FRNT Financial, the low supply may mean BTC is ready to break out. He said that if “there’s a lot of BTC on exchanges, then people are ready to sell.”
On the other hand, when BTC is taken off of exchanges and moved into private wallets there’s a significantly smaller supply available on the marketplace, which means rising demand could lead to higher prices.
Bitcoin has notably been trading sideways over the last few months as it’s seemingly stuck within a tight trading range. Despite enduring a sell-off at the time Russia started invading Ukraine, the cryptocurrency quickly recovered to re-enter its range.
IntoTheBlock has noted around 15,000 BTC were moved off of trading platforms in just 24 hours, the largest outflows seen since January 29. The firm added that the last time BTC experienced such a large outflow it was “followed by a significant rise in price.”
Bitcoin’s price has recently been influenced by the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) moving to raise up to $10 billion in BTC for reserves. The foundation has reportedly raised $2.2 billion to back its UST stablecoin and has started making BTC purchases.
Data from the blockchain suggests Terra has recently bought $125 million worth of BTC, with a Gnosis safe address associated with it transferring $125 million of USDT to leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
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