Bitcoin’s recent onchain data unveils a new category of BTC whales that now hold nearly half of the realized market capitalization. This development points to a significant shift in the manner in which capital flows into the market.

Key Insights:

• About 50% of Bitcoin’s realized capital is now associated with new whales, indicating a restructuring of the network’s cost basis.
• Over the past month, the Short-Term Holder (STH) supply surged by an unprecedented 100,000 BTC, reaching a record high.

Transforming the Cost Basis

According to data from CryptoQuant, addresses identified as new whales represent almost 50% of Bitcoin’s realized capitalization. This metric gauges the worth of BTC at the price at which each coin last moved, reflecting the source of capital influx, rather than ownership levels. Earlier, new whales comprised a maximum of 22% of the realized cap. Historically, bull markets attracted whales who took positions at lower prices and gradually released coins. In contrast, current whales are investing significant sums at much higher price points.

Notably, during market corrections, the share of realized cap held by new whales has been on the rise, marking a reinstatement of Bitcoin’s total cost basis rather than mere speculative activity.

Surge in Short-Term Demand

The net position change for short-term holders in the last month has hit around 100,000 BTC, showing aggressive accumulation by newcomers. This statistic illustrates how demand can far exceed supply, despite ongoing price fluctuations.

Moreover, the incoming data from Binance suggests that older coins remain inactive, confirming that long-term holders have retained their assets. Conversely, most sales arose from short-term holders reacting to downward price trends, with approximately 37% of transfers to Binance coming from whale wallets (1,000–10,000 BTC).

Data insights from Hyblock further support this viewpoint, as whale accounts ($100,000–$10 million) revealed a substantial $135 million delta this week, while retail and mid-level traders experienced negative deltas.

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