Large Bitcoin ‘Whale Accumulation’ Was Exchange Housekeeping, Data Shows

Recent market data suggesting aggressive Bitcoin accumulation by large investors appears to be a misinterpretation of internal exchange housekeeping. On January 2, Julio Moreno, head of research at analytics firm CryptoQuant, reported that on-chain signals initially interpreted as whale buying were mainly due to exchange-related activity. Bitcoin Whales Cut Holdings as Capital Flows Turn Negative He explained that the apparent accumulation was driven mainly by cryptocurrency exchanges consolidating their assets. Exchanges frequently reorganize their digital vaults, moving funds from multiple smaller deposit addresses into fewer, larger cold storage wallets. These technical transfers can mimic the footprint of a large investor purchasing massive amounts of Bitcoin. Thus, creating false positive signals for market trackers. However, Moreno noted a bearish trend among actual large-scale holders after filtering out exchange-internal transfers. No, whales are not buying enormous amount of Bitcoin.Most Bitcoin whale data out there has been "affected" by exchanges consolidating a lot of their holdings into fewer addresses with larger balances, this is why whales seem to have accumulated a lot of coins recently. According to him, Bitcoin whalesentities holding more than 1,000 coinsand mid-tier dolphin investors have been net sellers throughout December. The total balance held by this cohort dropped from approximately 3.2 million Bitcoin to just under 2.9 million in December, before a slight correction to 3.1 million. Similarly, mid-sized wallets holding between 100 and 1,000 Bitcoin saw their collective holdings decline to 4.7 million BTC. Notably, this distribution activity coincided with a volatile period for the assets price. Bitcoin corrected sharply in December, falling from a high of $94,297 to a low of $84,581, according to data from BeInCrypto. Meanwhile, separate data from blockchain intelligence firm Glassnode corroborates the sell-off. It shows monthly capital netflows into the Bitcoin network turned negative in late December. This reversal ended a two-year run of uninterrupted positive inflows that began in late 2023. At the same time, long-term holders, who typically hold through volatility, are now locking in losses at a pace that exceeds the records set earlier in 2024. The deceleration in capital inflows has coincided with long-term holders increasing their loss realization.This structure is unfolding while price trades within a compressed range. This reflects growing time-based investor fatigue, a common characteristic of extended bearish This spike in realized losses suggests a wave of investor fatigue and capitulation among the market cohort traditionally viewed as the most resilient.