Bitcoin Whales Offload More Than $1 Billion in BTC in Recent Fortnight: Crypto Analytics Firm

Long-term bitcoin holders and miners have been notable sellers of the cryptocurrency over the last two weeks, showing little sign of increased buying activity. This trend is evident in the decline of UTXO age bands, indicating a rise in selling behavior. Some suggest that miners are shifting their focus to the thriving AI sector due to reduced mining rewards post-halving, potentially leading to increased selling.

According to on-chain analysis firm CryptoQuant, whales, referring to significant holders of any token, have offloaded more than $1.2 billion worth of BTC in the recent two-week period, likely utilizing brokers rather than direct market transactions. Analysts noted a lack of growth in traders increasing their bitcoin holdings, with stablecoin liquidity experiencing its slowest growth rate since November 2023.

Traders have been reducing their holdings since bitcoin prices exceeded $70,000 in late May, as indicated by declining UTXO age bands tracked by CryptoQuant. UTXOs, unspent outputs from bitcoin transactions, are crucial for monitoring buying and selling patterns across market cycles. A decrease in UTXO age typically signifies heightened Bitcoin activity and selling, while an increase suggests more holding in the market.

Market experts speculate that miners are increasingly turning to the flourishing AI sector instead of bitcoin for revenue generation, leading them to sell their bitcoin rewards rather than retain them. Both industries heavily rely on powerful computing chips for data generation and maintenance, a resource already possessed by miners.

Lucy Hu, a senior analyst at crypto fund Metalpha, highlighted this trend, stating that the decline in mining rewards has prompted miners to explore alternative revenue streams, particularly in AI businesses. The demand for energy-intensive data centers by AI firms has enabled bitcoin miners to boost their revenue through sales to these companies.

Since June 5, BTC prices have dropped from $71,000 to slightly above $65,000 amid a strengthening dollar, a shift towards safer assets, and growth in traditional stock indices. Additionally, U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the asset saw net outflows exceeding $600 million last week, marking their weakest performance since late April.

Some traders have cautioned about a potential drop to as low as $60,000 in the absence of catalysts for growth. CoinDesk data indicates a 0.6% decrease in BTC over the past 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 20 (CD20), an index of major tokens, has risen by 1.2%.

In conclusion, recent trends in bitcoin selling by long-term holders and miners, coupled with shifts towards the AI sector, have impacted the cryptocurrency market, influencing prices and investor sentiment.