As Bitcoin adoption continues to grow, new data from Santiment reveals an increasing concentration of ownership in large wallets while the share held by retail investors steadily declines.
As of May 13, wallets holding 10 BTC or more, roughly equivalent to $1 million, now control 82% of the total mined Bitcoin supply. Santiment analysts highlight that this leaves just about 17.5% of Bitcoin in wallets holding less than $1 million, underscoring the rising dominance of large holders.
Delving deeper, 100 BTC or more wallets valued at over $10 million command over 60% of the total supply. Santiment categorizes wallets holding between 10 and 100 BTC as mostly small institutional investors. At the same time, those exceeding 100 BTC primarily belong to institutions and liquidity providers, with a few very large retail wallets as exceptions.
Meanwhile, roughly 3.47 million BTC, valued at about $358 billion, remain in wallets holding fewer than 10 BTC. Analysts note that the future decisions of this smaller group to keep or sell will largely hinge on upcoming market sentiment. Historically, major price corrections tend to trigger panic selling among retail investors, which larger wallets absorb as they accumulate the coins that retail holders are no longer comfortable keeping long-term.
Crypto mining has become less accessible for individual miners because of increasing costs and lower rewards. Many miners are now partnering with institutional investors and often take profits soon after mining. Additionally, analysts estimate that 3 to 4 million Bitcoin may be permanently lost due to inaccessible wallets or lost private keys.
Further emphasizing the accumulation trend among larger players, Santiment’s May 13 post on X revealed that wallets holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC, often called whales and sharks, have collectively added over 83,000 Bitcoin in the past 30 days. In contrast, smaller wallets holding less than 0.1 BTC sold approximately 387 BTC during the same period, highlighting a clear shift in market dynamics.
If you want to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and CoinMarketCap Community.
“Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.”
