Bitcoin’s price remains sluggish despite ongoing whale accumulation
Whales in possession of as little as 10 BTC have continued to buy the digital asset amid falling prices.
- More price dips may be incoming as the Fed hikes interest rates over the coming week or so.
- Bitcoin's dominance index (DI) currently stands at 41%.
- A new malware designed to steal BTC has been doing the rounds online recently.
After being confined to the AUD$54,000 range for over 72 hours running, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalisation, has been on the receiving end of a minor price surge resulting in the digital asset's value increasing by a little over 1% since 15 March. At press time, BTC is trading at a price point of AUD$55,500
On-chain analyst Willy Woo believes that the flagship cryptocurrency may be faced with another full "bear season" before whales (i.e. individuals owning substantial sums of BTC) ramp up their selling pressure, thereby taking the price of the currency higher.
Market analyst Christopher Yates is of the view that the coming few weeks could easily see Bitcoin slip to around AUD$41,5000 (US$30,000), especially as the macro environment surrounding the crypto ecosystem continues to deteriorate, adding:
"What makes me increasingly wary that the low is not yet in for 2022 is the fact that we are yet to see a capitulation style spike in volume that has occurred at all the recent lows in late 2019, early 2020 and mid-2021,"
That said, Yates did concede that such frequent spikes and dips in Bitcoin's daily trade volumes suggest that a "market bottom" may be nearing.
Solid BTC accumulation going on as usual among whales
As per blockchain data provider Ecoinometrics, crypto HODLers with 10 BTC or more have been accruing the digital asset over the last 30 days. However, with traditional markets, including stocks and commodities, falling rapidly, many pundits had expected this rate to have been much stronger.
In fact, this buying trend could become weaker in the near term, especially with the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike set to come into effect by the end of this month to help curb rising inflation rates, which are currently at their highest levels in nearly 50 years. Experts believe that if the Fed is not able to navigate properly through its upcoming "tightening cycle", it could cause risk-based assets – of which Bitcoin is a part – to tank massively.
Lastly, with inflation numbers running wild, a 0.25% interest rate hike seemed quite logical, given all the massive stimulus packages and liquidity injections that made their way into the American economy over the last couple of years. The chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell was quoted as saying:
"The bottom line is we will proceed but we will proceed carefully as we learn more about the implications of the Ukraine war,"
Malware designed to steal BTC runs amuck
A Bitcoin owner was recently duped out of 0.255 BTC – approximately AUD$14,000, at press time, as a result of malware operating on their computer. The BTC was being sent from Kraken to South African crypto exchange VALR; however, as a result of the malicious software running on the sender's PC, the destination address was altered, resulting in the theft.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner's guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing
