By George Ward
BTC Whales Accumulation Spree
Bitcoin whales have been on an accumulation spree, amassing over $12.85 billion worth of the flagship cryptocurrency since January 2024. This accumulation follows a backdrop of dwindling retail participation in the crypto market, as evidenced by a notable decline in new Bitcoin addresses.
Consequently, their actions have propelled Bitcoin’s value to recent highs, challenging the prevailing narrative that institutional demand alone is responsible for the digital asset’s price rise. While institutional interest, particularly in Bitcoin ETFs, has been on the rise, the latest insights from Santiment suggest that whales also exert significant influence over BTC’s market dynamics.
A recent report from the crypto analytics platform highlights a surge in whale activity, with the most recent five-day period witnessing the highest level of transactions not seen since June 2022.
Retail Participation Wanes
Meanwhile, retail investors appear to have taken a backseat, with Glassnode data revealing a marked decline in the creation of new Bitcoin addresses. This trend has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the short-term trajectory of Bitcoin’s price.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has retreated from its initial overbought territory, signaling waning buying pressure. At the same time, the Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) indicates a slowdown in accumulation, foreshadowing a period of consolidation. Nonetheless, a failure to sustain momentum could see BTC’s price retrace toward the critical support level at $49.9K.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Surpasses 80 Trillion Mark
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin mining difficulty has surged past the 80 trillion mark, signaling the increasing competition within the mining ecosystem. On-chain data shows that the network’s hash rate has reached 562.81 exahashes per second (EH/s), accompanied by a record-breaking mining difficulty of 81.73 trillion.
With Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system, higher difficulty levels translate to miners needing more computational resources and energy to mine new blocks successfully. It is worth noting that the Bitcoin mining difficulty level has more than doubled in the past year alone.
At its automated readjustment on February 15, Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by an estimated 6%, surpassing the 80-trillion threshold for the first time in history. This surge in mining difficulty comes amidst heightened expectations from the upcoming Bitcoin halving, scheduled to take place in late April.
Bitcoin Hash Rate Faces Significant Drop As Halving Looms – Galaxy Digital Report
As the halving approaches, Galaxy Digital analysts predict that a significant portion of Bitcoin’s current hash rate could go offline as less efficient miners find it increasingly challenging to cover operational costs. With the halving set to slash block rewards in half, concerns arise over the viability of older mining rigs.
The analysts estimate that 15-20% of the network’s hash rate could go offline, primarily from aging ASIC models. While more efficient and newer models like the Antminer S19 and S19J Pro could weather the storm, they could struggle with higher operational costs.