Bitcoin has continued to trade below the $85,000 price level for the fifth day straight now. This is after the price dropped below this level on Mar. 9, 2025 following the U.S Strategic Bitcoin Reserve ‘disappointment.’ The crypto market expected that the U.S would buy more Bitcoin upon creation of the monumental Bitcoin Reserve but this was not the case.
Instead, the U.S government opted to hold just the BTC and other altcoins forfeited by law enforcers hence causing disappointment to the much awaited announcement. “The government will not acquire additional assets for the Stockpile beyond those obtained through forfeiture proceedings,” David O. Sacks shared on X on Mar. 7, 2025.
Nonetheless, despite massive sell-offs triggering a huge price dip, reports have confirmed that BTC’s non-empty wallets have grown and only sit just below the ATH. This signifies that the Bitcoin network is growing despite the recent instability.
Number of Non-Empty BTC Wallets Just 0.018% Below the ATH
The total number of non-empty Bitcoin wallets is growing immensely despite price struggles. According to a post shared by Santiment on X earlier, “Bitcoin’s total amount of holders (non-empty wallets) has exceeded 54.71M.” This growth places the number of BTC holders just 0.018% below the all-time high (ATH) of 54.72 million achieved on January 19, 2025.
But the surge in BTC holders can only be “partially” interpreted to mean network growth. This is because the surge could also be contributed by larger wallets distributing their holdings into smaller wallets. But, according to Santiment the surge in non-empty wallets confirms network growth.
“This does indicate continued expansion of crypto’s top network, despite the nearly 8 weeks of extreme price volatility,” the post by Santiment read. Furthermore, BTC holders are just 10K wallets away from breaching the current ATH.
Bitcoin Has Entered the Distribution Phase; Glassnode Reports
As per the weekly report shared by Glassnode recently, Bitcoin has entered the Distribution Phase after prevalent accumulation. The report shows that strong accumulation prevailed in the BTC market from mid September 2024 till end of January 2025. However, following the market crash fueled by unfavorable macroeconomic factors, investor confidence has faded away hence the kick-off of distribution phase.
“From late February onwards…confidence in accumulation started to deteriorate, “ the report read. This has been caused by “external risk factors, including the Bybit hack and escalating U.S. tariff tensions which amplified market uncertainty. The weak accumulation is seen to appear between the $78K and $92K level.
With the accumulation of BTC eroding, Bitcoin has since entered the Distribution Phase. This phase is usually associated with sideways movement of the market as large investors sell-off. The phase is evident in the current market as BTC struggles to maintain upward movement past the $85K level. Rather, the price of BTC is range bound between $80K and 85K level for the past two days.
The report confirmed that the “the latest distribution phase commenced in January 2025, aligning with Bitcoin’s sharp correction from $108K to $93K.” Sell-side pressure is persistent in the market in the current times hence suppressing BTC’s price recovery.
BTC’s Current Price Performance
Bitcoin is currently trading at $83,313.45 as of the time of this writing. The current price depicts a 1.20% surge but is still down over 8% on the weekly chart. Despite the surge in non-empty wallets, the distribution phase confirms that large holders are splitting their holdings into smaller wallets. Stronger buying is thus required to push the price of Bitcoin higher.
Currently, the trading volume of BTC is down by 23.61% and sits at $36.37B. This shows trading activity around BTC has slowed down as with investors shifting to risk aversion and capital accumulation. The price of BTC will continue to consolidate until the market finds stronger support.
#blockchain #crypto, #decentralized, #distributed, #ledger
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