The significant movement of such a large amount of tokens indicates that mining companies may be preparing to sell or trade their holdings of BTC. With the approval of Bitcoin ETF spot funds, mining companies can seize the opportunity to use their BTC reserves to facilitate favorable conditions for OTC transactions commonly used by institutional investors.
This presents them with the opportunity to earn significant transaction fees and the ability to ensure favorable pricing conditions, especially ahead of the highly anticipated Bitcoin halving expected in April this year. It also signals a shift in behavior as mining companies have temporarily halted selling their tokens after a series of sell-offs when prices rebounded last month.
The latest behavior of miners also occurs against the backdrop of an increasing number of whales entering the market. According to CryptoQuant data, there has been a notable increase in the volume of UTXOs ranging from 1,000 to 10,000 BTC. These funds are more likely to be associated with whales or institutional investors rather than individual traders, especially since the recent approval of Bitcoin ETF spot funds has contributed to a significant increase.
Although not reaching the levels seen during the market growth of 2021, it is evident that a significant number of whales and institutions are currently participating in the market. Data reveals that the Bitcoin holdings of large entities have reached an all-time high since July 2022. Their holdings have increased from 3.694 million BTC in December 2022 to 3.964 million BTC, signaling increasing demand.
The increase in holdings of entities with 1K to 10K Bitcoin often correlates with market price fluctuations. Currently, Bitcoin is trading just below $52,000 and has seen an increase of about 30% over the past month.