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Bitcoin has more “value stored” in its network than ever before as the realized cap hits $850 billion for the first time.
In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, “<a href="https://insights.glassnode.com/the-week-onchain-week-05-2025/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">The Week On-chain</a>,” crypto analytics firm Glassnode predicted that the next Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">BTC</a>) price macro top may be far away.
<h2 id="bitcoin-capital-inflows-double-versus-2022-bottom">Bitcoin capital inflows double versus 2022 bottom</h2>
Bitcoin has attracted capital inflows of nearly $500 billion since the pit of the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-2022-bear-market-usual-despite-key-trend-line-loss-analyst" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_self">2022 crypto bear market</a>.
In so doing, its realized cap — the market cap calculated using the price at which each coin last moved onchain — has hit new record highs.
“If we benchmark from the cycle low set in Nov 2022, when the Realised Cap was $400B, Bitcoin has since absorbed an additional capital inflow of just approximately +$450B, more than doubling the Realized Cap,” Glassnode reports.
<blockquote>
 “This reflects the aggregate ‘value stored’ in Bitcoin at around $850B, with each coin priced at the time it last transacted on-chain.”
</blockquote>
<figure>
 <img alt="‘Atypical’ Bitcoin bull market can extend beyond March 2025 — Research" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-02/0194d574-a544-7639-bcd8-d91117ca9acc" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Bitcoin realized cap chart (screenshot). Source: Glassnode
 </figcaption>
</figure>
The research also noted that daily settlement volume remained at around $9 billion over the past year. The Bitcoin network settled over $3 trillion in that time.
“Both the Realized Cap, and the economic volumes settled by the Bitcoin network offer empirical evidence that Bitcoin both has ‘value’ and ‘utility’, challenging the assumption by critics that it has neither,” “The Week Onchain” continued.
<figure>
 <img alt="‘Atypical’ Bitcoin bull market can extend beyond March 2025 — Research" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-02/0194d575-248f-713e-ac5e-7a796c197d41" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Bitcoin onchain transfer volume chart (screenshot). Source: Glassnode
 </figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="bitcoin-bull-market-has-atypical-nature">Bitcoin bull market has “atypical nature”</h2>
Examining capital inflow trends, Glassnode suggested that the current BTC price cycle is “atypical.”
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/btc-dominance-nears-4-year-high-5-things-bitcoin-this-week" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">BTC dominance nears 4-year high: 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week</a>
Previously, cycle tops have come around one year after an initial peak in the proportion of wealth held in coins, which last moved in the past three months.
“Whilst new demand this cycle is meaningful, the wealth held in 3 month old coins is much lower than it was compared to previous cycles. This suggests that there has not been the same magnitude of new demand inflows, seeming to occur in bursts and peaks, rather than on a sustained basis,” it explained.&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 “Interestingly, all previous cycles had concluded approximately one year after the first ATH break, which highlights the atypical nature of our current cycle, which first reached a new ATH in March 2024.”
</blockquote>
<figure>
 <img alt="‘Atypical’ Bitcoin bull market can extend beyond March 2025 — Research" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-02/0194d575-9cb7-74d0-8e2f-bc4780019a87" title="">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">
 Bitcoin Realized Cap HODL Waves (RHODL) data. (screenshot). Source: Glassnode
 </figcaption>
</figure>
The observations feed into a general sense of <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-futures-metric-adds-1-2-b-after-fomc-but-retail-investor-spending-is-down-50-why" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="null">shifting investor patterns</a>. Despite higher BTC prices overall, retail has yet to display similar levels of FOMO or euphoria to previous cycles.
“This suggests that new demand for BTC has been dominated by larger sized entities, rather than small retail sized entities,” Glassnode said.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

‘Atypical’ Bitcoin bull market can extend beyond March 2025 — Research

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