This week has seen an invasion of Bitcoin [BTC] whales as the price of BTC has continued to rise. Yet, the rise in whale behavior did not begin with Bitcoin on its own network, but rather with wrapped versions on other networks. The current upswing has also changed the game for long-term investors.
BTC whales and Wrapped Bitcoin [wBTC] whales have been more active than usual in recent weeks. According to Santiment, the number of Bitcoin whale transactions has risen in recent weeks and has now topped 13,000 as of this writing. In recent weeks, the number of wBTC transactions has also increased, with over 100 of them as of this writing.
The level of whale activity in BTC has reached its peak in the previous 16 weeks. The number of whale transactions for wBTC was also increasing, hitting its highest level in 15 weeks. Whale trades are frequently transactions for more than $100,000.
wBTC is a cryptocurrency supported by Bitcoin. The goal of wBTC is to make it possible for Bitcoin owners to utilize their BTC to access decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and smart contracts on the Ethereum [ETH] network. To obtain wBTC, a user submits their BTC to a custodian, who reserves the BTC and issues an equivalent amount of wBTC on the Ethereum network.
The wrapped version can then be used to gain access to a variety of DeFi apps, including decentralized exchanges, lending and borrowing platforms, and other blockchain-based financial services. On the Ethereum network, wBTC can also be traded for other ERC-20 tokens and used as collateral for loans and other financial activities.
According to a recent Glassnode post, as BTC's upward trajectory persisted and the number of whale transactions increased, the realized value by Long-Term Holders also crossed the breakeven point.
This achievement was significant since it was the first time the SOPR had reached a break-even threshold since the Terra [LUNA] collapse. According to the Long-Term Holder SOPR on CryptoQuant, BTC was over 1.1 as of this writing.
At the time of publication, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicated that Bitcoin was in a strong bull trend. The RSI line on the daily period chart had gone over 70 and had entered the overbought zone, indicating that the price action was overbought. As of the time of writing, it had gained less than 1% and was trading at more than $28,000.