Will Bitcoin prices limit and slow down the number of BTC “Wholecoiners”?

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On May 20, Caitlin Long, the founder of Custodia Bank, retweeted and revived an intriguing question posed by Blockstream CEO Adam Back about whether the number of so-called Bitcoin integers has peaked.

Is the number of Bitcoin Wholecoiners reaching its maximum?

His question is when the number of wholecoiners, or individuals holding at least 1 BTC, passed the 1 million mark last week.

While the growing number of wholecoiners indicates possible adoption and growing demand for BTC over time, market forces may eventually limit their numbers.

She believes that as Bitcoin prices rise, it would be more expensive for a potential integer to buy the asset. Therefore, based on these factors, it is unlikely that there will be 10 million in the coming years.

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ARE WE MAXIMUM WHOLE COINS in #bitcoin asks @adam3us? 1 million whole pieces today. It could probably never hit 10 million whole coins, but the BC bitcoin price would be too high to hit that cap given the 21 million supply cap pic.twitter.com/vzRvv2vyAW

Caitlin Long (@CaitlinLong_) May 20, 2023

On May 13, Glassnode, an on-chain analytics firm, revealed that the number of addresses managing at least 1 BTC had crossed the 1 million mark and continued to grow steadily.

This upward trend has remained consistent, withstanding the impact of the crypto winter which saw BTC prices crash from over $69,000 recorded in November 2021 to under $16,000 in Q4 2022.

Bitcoin price on May 21 | Source: BTCUSDT on Binance, TradingView

Despite this impressive trend, the observations of Long and Adams may cast doubt on the continuation of this long-term trend, pushing the number of wholecoiners into double digits.

By design, Bitcoin is deflationary and there will be 21 million BTC circulating. As inflation also decreases due to the BTC halving approximately every four years, coin holders expect BTC prices to gradually increase over the years.

Based on historical performance and growing crypto adoption, market forces could push BTC prices up, making it difficult for more users to own 1 BTC currently trading at over $26,900. May 21.

Less than 2.5% of BTC addresses are Wholecoiners

While the number of wholecoiners has steadily increased, there is a divide between long-term investors and short-term speculators.

Long-term Bitcoin holders have shown resilience during market swings, holding their positions rather than selling. On the other hand, speculators are more notorious for going out for USDT and cash during times of heightened volatility. For their stocks, short-term holders or speculators have been labeled as weak hands.

So far, BitInfoCharts data shows that less than 2.5% of all Bitcoin addresses contain at least 1 BTC. As of May 21, addresses with between 1 and 10 BTC accounted for 2.1% of the total. Meanwhile, the number of whales, or those holding more than 100 BTC, accounted for less than 0.033% of total addresses.

About 93% of all Bitcoin addresses held between 0.00001 and 0.0001 BTC.

-Featured image from Canva, chart from TradingView

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