Emily Walker
Bitcoin has recently dropped below the $100,000 mark as recent on-chain data indicates that long-time holders, referred to as “OG whales,” are becoming active again.
Significant Transfers by Long-Term Bitcoin Investors
In a recent update on X, Julio Moreno, the Head of Research at CryptoQuant, highlighted the trend of the 30-day cumulative spending by Bitcoin holders who have kept their tokens for over 10 years.
This metric tracks the total coins being moved by these long-term investors on the Bitcoin blockchain over the past month. The chart displaying this indicator is shared below.
The chart shows that holders of Bitcoin for more than ten years have transferred a significant volume of coins as the price of the cryptocurrency has surged in the last month.
Typically, the longer individuals hold their cryptocurrencies, the less inclined they are to sell. The likelihood of selling decreases substantially after 155 days, leading to the classification of those holding longer as “long-term holders” (LTHs).
Your resolve to hold typically strengthens the longer you possess the coins. In this context, the focus is on the LTHs with coins aged over a decade, who are among the oldest holders in the cryptocurrency community.
Despite their age as investors, it is uncertain how steadfast they truly are. This contrasts with the earlier observation because it’s also statistically accurate that tokens older than seven years are often classified as ‘lost’ rather than actively held.
A ‘lost’ token refers to those whose wallets are no longer accessible due to factors like forgotten passwords or lost keys. A significant amount of these coins may never return to circulation, although some might be recovered eventually.
Some current sellers of these historical coins may have stumbled upon old reserves of either their own or another’s coins, indicating they may not have actively engaged in the holding process.
The remaining sellers, however, might indeed be the determined HODLers who have held since 2014 or earlier. These investors could be content with the $100,000 price point, prompting them to finally sell.
Overall, the spending of 10+-year-old coins approached $1 billion shortly before the recent decline in price, suggesting this activity could have contributed to the market drop.
Current BTC Price
As of now, Bitcoin is trading at approximately $97,700, reflecting a decline of more than 5% in the past 24 hours.