By the end of 2022, long-term investors held 13.7 million Bitcoins, accounting for 71.5% of the total supply of the cryptocurrency.
According to CryptoQuant analysts, these investors, known as hodlers, have significantly increased their holdings over the past year, now controlling around 80% of the Bitcoin market.
While short-term traders have been selling BTC, hodlers have been continuously accumulating. The day before, BTC hit a high of $45,700, with a 7% increase in market capitalization to $893.393 billion over the week.
As of Wednesday, January 3, the cryptocurrency was still trading at its highest levels since April 2022, while Ether was approaching $2,500. The anticipation of the launch of exchange-traded crypto funds (ETFs) is driving the growth of the cryptocurrency market.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is expected to approve multiple applications as early as this week from companies such as Ark Invest/21shares, BlackRock, Bitwise, Fidelity, Vaneck, Valkyrie, Invesco, and Wisdomtree.
