On-chain metrics about bitcoin have reversed after the recent bearish signals as the number of non-zero wallets and such holding at least one whole BTC have tapped new peaks.
This comes shortly after whales and other large entities made substantial transfers of their BTC holdings amid the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia.
Bitcoin Address on a Tear
As the name suggests, non-zero addresses are wallets containing even the smallest fraction of bitcoin. A recent chart by the analytics resource Glassnode informed that such entities have begun increasing lately and charted a new all-time high after finally exceeding 40 million.
As the chart below shows, these addresses, which typically illustrate the behavior of retail investors, spiked in late 2017 in the middle of the previous bull cycle and fell shortly after – as BTC began its retracement.
They picked up in the next year or so before plateauing at around 35 million for a while, but Glassnode said they are 40,276,163 as of early February 28.
But it’s not just non-zero addresses that have increased lately. The analytics company also informed that wholecoiners (entities owning at least one whole bitcoin) have recovered from their recent decline and hit a 10-month high. Currently, there are more than 800,000 such wallets.
The Calm After the Storm?
Last week, the world shook upon news that Russia had launched a “special military operation” against Ukraine following weeks of escalating tension. Naturally, Europe’s first war in over 70 years sent the financial markets into turmoil. Bitcoin lost about $5,000 in hours, while bearish signals were coming left and right.
This uncertainty prompted many BTC investors to move their holdings. While in similar situations retail investors usually tend to panic, this time the whales made massive transfers, according to to data from another blockchain analytics resource – Santiment.
The firm observed the largest amount of BTC transactions worth over $100,000 and $1,000,000 in about a month as BTC dropped below $35,000. Additionally, Santiment said bitcoin’s token circulation hit a 9-month high, “revealing just how polarized traders have become with the war.”
This BTC move resembled the events of March 2020, when the world was officially introduced to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the landscape seems to have calmed down in the days following the evidence of the war. Additionally, BTC quickly recovered most of its USD impairment losses.
