According to on-chain data from CryptoQuant, speculation that Bitcoin whales are in an enormous re-accumulation phase has been significantly overstated, suggesting that the digital asset market structure has not modified significantly.
The popular narrative that enormous holders are aggressively buying Bitcoin (BTC) is misleading, said Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant. Much of the publicly shared data on “whale accumulation” is distorted by stock market-related activity somewhat than real investor behavior.
Cryptocurrency exchanges routinely pool funds from many smaller wallets into fewer large ones for operational and regulatory reasons. This process artificially inflates the variety of wallets with very high balances, causing on-chain trackers to incorrectly classify the activity as a whale accumulation.
Source: Julio Moreno
When you filter out these exchange-related biases, the info shows that enormous holders are still distributing Bitcoin somewhat than accumulating it, Moreno said.
As a result, overall whale populations proceed to say no. Holdings of addresses holding 100 to 1,000 BTC are also falling, a trend that implies continued exchange-traded fund (ETF) outflows.
The data is critical because Bitcoin whales exert an outsized influence in the marketplace and enormous transactions often result in price movements and periods of volatility. However, the market structure has modified since early 2024 with the launch of US spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have turn out to be major holders of the digital asset.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively hold nearly 1.3 million BTC, representing about 6.2% of the overall supply of Bitcoin. Source: Bitbo
Source: Bithumb points to $200 million in dormant crypto assets across 2.6 million inactive accounts
A silver lining: Long-term holders are turning to accumulation
While the talk over whether Bitcoin whales are accumulating again continues, other on-chain data suggests a more constructive shift amongst a closely watched cohort: long-term holders.
Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, said long-term Bitcoin holders have turn out to be net accumulators over the past 30 days, following what he said was the cohort's largest selling event since 2019.
Source: Matthew Sigel
The shift suggests that one in every of the important thing drivers of Bitcoin's recent selling pressure could also be easing, no less than within the short term.
Bitcoin's price motion doesn’t yet reflect a sustained recovery, however the asset has also avoided a retest of its November low below $80,000. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading barely above $90,000.
Source: The 2026 Crypto Investment Playbook: Bitcoin, Stablecoin Infrastructure, Tokenized Assets
