On December 26th, CryptoQuant’s CEO, Ki Young Ju, highlighted significant activity among large-scale investors, commonly referred to as whales, who are increasingly accumulating Bitcoin through discreet transactions. Recent data indicates a notable rise in annual average CoinJoin transactions over the past two years. While this trend has raised concerns surrounding potential associations with illicit activities, Chainalysis revealed that the hacker losses this year have reached approximately $2.2 billion, constituting less than 0.5% of Bitcoin’s substantial $377 billion realized market capitalization.
In 2024, an impressive influx of 1.55 million BTC has been directed into accumulation addresses, closely linked to entities such as ETFs, MicroStrategy, and custody wallets. Notably, these large investors commonly resort to private transactions when reallocating funds to new institutional clients. Despite transparent asset disclosures, the identities of those who have hoarded around 240,000 to 420,000 BTC remain unclear, emphasizing the opaque nature of Bitcoin ownership.