Journalist
Posted:
- Bitcoin’s network hashrate has more than doubled since its 2021 high.
- Retail and whale investors have risen in recent years.
Bitcoin [BTC] has seen a sharp decline from 2021 highs in the ongoing bear market. In fact, the world’s largest crypto asset was 60% below its all-time high (ATH) of $69,900 at the time of writing. CoinMarketCap facts.
How much are 1,10,100 BTCs worth today?
Steady increase in hashrate
But despite the decline in valuation, blockchain has continued to thrive. According to on-chain analyst Joe Burnett, the Bitcoin network hashrate has increased from 165 ExaHashes per second (EH/s) on the day it peaked to 400 EH/s at the time of this post.
This reflected a staggering 142% increase.
$69,000 was the BTC/USD price peak on November 10, 2021.
On that same day, the total network hashrate was ~165 EH/s.
Since then, the USD price has fallen to $26,700, but the hashrate has exploded to ~400 EH/s.
Demand to acquire the remaining 1,507,106 BTC has never been higher. pic.twitter.com/OMqInqT6TQ
— Joe Burnett (🔑)³ (@IIICapital) September 22, 2023
A rising hashrate, or the computing power required to solve complex cryptographic puzzles, was an indication that more miners were involved in validating transactions and securing the Bitcoin network.
This could be the logical outcome of the growing on-chain activity and Bitcoin adoption.
High network demand for Bitcoin
According to Glassnode, transactions on the network have indeed exploded in recent years, with unprecedented demand for the block space set to hit by 2023. Closer inspection revealed that the network’s ATH of over 703,504 was only achieved last week.
Source: Glassnode
Investors collect Bitcoin
Users have been drawn to Bitcoin in recent years as its safe-haven narrative has gained mainstream prominence. Bitcoin has remained largely insulated from implosions like those of FTX and TerraUSD [UST]and regulatory hurdles that have become a major thorn in the side of other altcoins.
Its resilience led many users, including retail investors, to add Bitcoin to their portfolios. A recent update shared on a social platform proved the growing ownership.
📈 #Bitcoin $BTC Number of addresses holding 0.1+ coins just reached an ATH of 4,499,669
View statistics:https://t.co/hZY8dBLpzX pic.twitter.com/nZjHtgQ4ow
— Glassnode Alerts (@glassnodealerts) September 22, 2023
Is your portfolio green? Check out the BTC profit calculator
To top it all off, whale investors have been continuously adding BTCs to their holdings. According to Santiment, the number of wallets has increased by 10,000-100,000 coins since the market peak of 2021.
Source: Santiment
Bitcoin’s network usage clearly exceeded its market cap, effectively pricing it at a discount. This pattern could be good for Bitcoin’s value in the long run.