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The price of BTC has more than doubled since Bitcoin’s third block reward halved in May. Or to be specific, BTC gained 110% from the halving, with prices climbing from $ 8,566 on May 11, 2020 to test $ 18,000 at the time of this writing.
According to a November 19 report from crypto analytics firm Chainalysis, liquidity levels and trading flows have changed dramatically since the halving.
The firm identifies illiquid, or investor-held, Bitcoins as “wallets that send less than 25% of the Bitcoin they ever received,” while the remaining wallets are classified as liquid Bitcoins, or Bitcoin held by traders.
Data from Chainalysis shows that the number of Bitcoins available to new investors began to decline earlier this year, while illiquid BTC has increased significantly. Chainalysis estimates that the number of Bitcoins currently liquid could reach 3.4 million.
The firm attributes the decline in liquid Bitcoin supply to wholesale accumulation by institutional investors throughout 2020:
“From high-profile investors like hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, who likened buying Bitcoin to early investing in Apple or Google, to companies like Square, which invested $ 50 million or 1% of the its total assets in Bitcoin, traditional companies and financial institutions are turning to Bitcoin. ”
Cryptocurrency fund manager Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which represents more than a dozen high-profile institutional investors, now holds more than 500,000 BTC, 50% of which has accumulated over the past six months.
Yesterday, analytics platform Glassnode Studio reported that Bitcoin mining revenue has returned to pre-halving levels. The day before, the miners earned a year-to-date record of $ 21.2 million in daily revenue, roughly three times the earnings immediately after the halving.
Before Bitcoin Maxis gets too excited, however, it’s worth noting that the price of Ether has significantly outperformed Bitcoin over the same period, growing more than 160%, from $ 185 to $ 482 since May 11.
