According to on-chain data, some non-whale Bitcoin investors appear to have had no problems with the cryptocurrency bear market or the fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) surrounding the demise of FTX.
A Tale of Shrimps and Crabs
According to research published by the blockchain intelligence platform Glassnode on Nov. 27, smaller retail investors have grown more enthusiastic about Bitcoin and have begun amassing more BTC.
The data indicates that at least two different categories of retail Bitcoin investors have been acquiring a record number of BTC since FTX’s demise.
The first type of investors — classified as shrimps — defines entities or investors that hold less than 1 Bitcoin, $16,500 at the time of writing, while the second type — crabs — are a category of addresses holding up to 10 BTC, $165,000 at the time of writing.
Following the FTX crisis in early November, “Shrimp” investors are said to have added 96,200 BTC ($1,6 billion) to their portfolios, which is a “all-time high balance increase.” According to Glassnode, this group of investors has 1.21 million BTC, or $20 billion, which is equal to 6.3% of the 19.2 million coins that are now in circulation.
Over the past 30 days, “crabs” have purchased around 191,600 BTC, or $3.1 billion, which is also a “convincing all-time high,” according to the researchers. The new milestone has surpassed the previous BTC accumulation record set by crabs in July 2022, when 126,000 BTC, or $2 billion, were purchased each month at its peak.
Whales Racing the Other Way
While huge Bitcoin investors have been selling, crabs and shrimp have been acquiring record quantities of Bitcoin. Glassnode reports that during the previous month, Bitcoin whales have given up roughly 6,500 BTC, or $107 million, to exchanges. This is still a relatively minor amount of their overall holdings of 6.3 million BTC, or $104 billion.
Given recent industry events, including the alleged fraud and money-laundering allegations against Sam Bankman-crypto Fried’s FTX exchange, the behavior of shrimp and crabs is quite interesting.
Following FTX’s demise, Bitcoin immediately dropped roughly $6,000 in value, falling from about $21,000 to under $16,000 in mid-November. Over the past two weeks, the cryptocurrency has been edging up, but has not breached the $17,000 price level.
While some crypto whales have been liquidating positions, some big bitcoin investors have remained defiant in their bullish stances. Even as bearish conditions persist, El Salvador’s government began buying Bitcoin every day on November 17.
Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk voiced his belief that Bitcoin “will make it” in spite of the current market problems, although he warned that there would be a “long crypto winter.”
At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $16,500, or up around 1.7% over the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko.
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