Amid crypto fall, nearly 30,000 Bitcoin millionaires wiped in last 3 months

Almost 30,000 Bitcoin millionaires have been wiped in the last three months as the volatile cryptocurrency is witnessing a free fall — from $69,000 in November to nearly $36,000 (as of Thursday) — owing to regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical unrest.

According to data acquired by financial news portal Finbold, between October and January, the number of Bitcoin addresses holding over $1 million has reduced by 28,186 or 24.26 per cent.

In general, the Bitcoin-rich list has plunged over the last three months.

“Wallets holding over $100,000 have dropped 30.04 per cent from 505,711 to 353,763. The number of addresses with $1 million and above dropped 23.5 per cent from 105,820 to 80,945. Wallets holding over $10 million and above also registered a drop of 32.08 per cent from 10,319 to 7,008,” the report mentioned.

The drop in the Bitcoin rich list correlates with the asset’s volatility that has been heightened in recent weeks.

“A combination of factors such as regulatory scrutiny, turbulent markets, geopolitical unrest, and Covid combined with having an adverse effect on the asset’s performance. However, despite the volatile start to the year, a number of analysts continue to laud the asset as a hedge against rising inflation,” the report elaborated.

Due to the rapid decline in the value of Bitcoin since the start of the year, the number of liquidations has also increased in recent weeks, with $372 million in long positions in the perpetual market across all exchanges being liquidated in only one day, January 22.

“Given the anonymous nature of the world’s most valuable digital asset, it is difficult to identify the individuals who possess the addresses in question,” the report said.

Bitcoin, along with other digital cryptocurrencies, has crashed to its lowest levels and the continuing meltdown has wiped out over $1 trillion from the global crypto market value.

The crypto crash came as the US Federal Reserve raised the possibility of boosting interest rates as soon as March and withdrawing stimulus from the market.

–IANS

na/dpb

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.

As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.

Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.

Digital Editor