Bitcoin prices continued to soar this week, with the high-end cryptocurrency consolidating its position above $50,000. Interestingly, on-chain data shows that certain investor groups have been less engaged in the recent rally, sparking a debate about participating in the current bullish cycle.
Recent BTC prices are mainly supported by “demand from institutional investors”
In a recent post on X, analyst Ali Martinez pointed out that retail investor involvement in the Bitcoin market is clearly decreasing. This change occurred despite the recent surge in the price of major cryptocurrencies.
This revelation is based on a noticeable drop in the number of new Bitcoin address creations each day. According to crypto intelligence platform Glassnode, this metric tracks the number of unique addresses appearing for the first time in a native he coin transaction within the network.
Typically, as the value of Bitcoin increases, more individuals tend to enter the market, which often results in a proliferation of new addresses to store and trade coins. However, there is currently a disconnect between BTC prices and the creation of new addresses.
According to Martinez, this strange trend suggests that retailers are not participating in the ongoing Bitcoin bull market. However, cryptocurrency analysts have linked the recent strong performance of the flagship cryptocurrency to institutional investor activity.
This analysis appears to carry some weight, considering it has been just over a month since the Securities and Exchange Commission approved trading of spot BTC exchange-traded funds in the United States. These investment products are issued and managed by some of the world’s largest financial companies, including BlackRock, Grayscale, and Fidelity.
Bitcoin whales show highest activity since 2022
Another on-chain fact has emerged that lends some support to the argument for increased institutional participation. According to analytics platform Santiment, BTC whale activity has intensified recently, reaching its highest level in more than 20 months.
According to Santiment data, wallets between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC are mushrooming, with around 249,000 coins (worth around $12.8 billion) added in 2024 alone. However, it is worth mentioning that since the beginning of the year, lower tier investors (100-1,000 BTC) have sold over 151,000 Bitcoin.
As of this writing, Bitcoin’s value is $51,950, reflecting a 0.6% decline over the past day. Nevertheless, the premium cryptocurrency has retained most of its weekly gains and is up nearly 10% over the past seven days.
