📈 Bitcoin Price Rally to $90K Faces Reality Check From On-Chain Metrics
The pioneer cryptocurrency Bitcoin jumps 1.78% during Friday’s U.S. market hours to trade at $90,268. The buying pressure likely raised as positive sentiment amid the new year celebration. However, the latest on-chain data highlighted by crypto analysts shows that the price surge lacks whale accumulation as falsely claimed by other market observers. Will the Bitcoin price lose $90,000 again?
📈 BTC Whale Surge Misread as Coinbase Reshuffles 800,000 Bitcoin
The first 48 hours of 2026 has been notably bullish for the cryptocurrency market accentuated with Bitcoin rebound above $90,000. Amid this jump, some crypto enthusiasts took it X (formerly twitter) to highlight whale accumulation.
Recent advances in the interpretation of data on Bitcoin have led analysts to debate. A figure known as Darkfost from CryptoQuant emphasized what looked to be significant purchases of large holders, commonly referred to as whales. However, this perception fails to capture important internal changes at a major exchange.
Coinbase recently moved close to 800,000 BTC across its systems. This operation wasn’t as simple as a transfer, but rather a reorganization of unspent transaction outputs, or UTXOs, which are basically a bunch of Bitcoin from past transactions. The process affected multiple categories including those associated with long-term storage.
Specifically, the exchange combined small holdings with large ones. This meant breaking down UTXOs of less than 1,000 BTC and forming new ones of more than it. Visual data makes this consolidation very clear.
Overall, there are little changes in trading and holding patterns beyond these internal moves. The larger ecosystem is relatively quiet for different segments.
