Blockchain data shows the first-ever decline in the number of Bitcoin addresses $BTC holding a balance exceeding 0.1 BTC over two years, since the launch of the cryptocurrency network in 2009. This conclusion was based on a report published by the website Protos.com.
The number dropped from 4,548,107 addresses on December 8, 2023, to 4,443,541 addresses this month, representing a decrease of 2.3%. Prior to this period, the number of addresses holding more than 0.1 BTC had been experiencing a continuous annual increase until 2023, according to the report.
Divergence between large and small addresses and a reflection in holding trends:
According to the site, data reveals that the number of unique addresses has seen a steady increase with brief occasional fluctuations lasting for a few months, peaking in December 2023, and stabilizing throughout most of 2024 before declining to its lowest level in two years according to the analysis.
In contrast, the number of addresses holding 0.01 BTC or more decreased by only 0.7% during the same period, indicating a sharper decline among wallets with larger balances. This historical decline represents a significant shift in the landscape after years of continued growth in the number of holders of these amounts of the first digital currency.
Shift in the landscape of direct holding of Bitcoin #BTC :
The site indicated that this decline comes at a time when the Bitcoin BTC environment has developed significantly from its early years, as thousands of centralized trading exchanges, exchange-traded funds "ETFs", derivatives platforms, treasury companies, and other financial products now provide exposure to the price of Bitcoin BTC according to industry observers.
This infrastructure makes it difficult to determine the actual number of individual investors holding specific amounts of Bitcoin BTC, as the assets held by these intermediaries are combined on-chain, and security practices among Bitcoin #BTC holders have also evolved, as users adopt various techniques that reduce the need to hold large balances in single addresses regardless of the total investment size.
Advanced storage technologies changing holding patterns and distribution of holdings:
Although hardware wallets such as "Ledger" #Ledger and "Trezor" #Trezor and "Cold Card" #Coldcard are available for direct holding of Bitcoin #BTC , many investors are now using exchange-traded funds "ETFs" and other tradable products that comply with retirement account regulations, a feature not provided by direct holding of Bitcoin BTC.
Common techniques now include combining unspent transaction outputs, extended public keys to distribute holdings across multiple wallets controlled by a single private key, integrated wallet structures, and cryptographic methods like "XOR" to combine seed phrases from multiple wallets, according to cryptocurrency security experts. Nevertheless, this data provides insight into behavioral patterns among Bitcoin BTC network users over time.