Bitcoin, still being a relatively small market and a rather nascent space, has a habit of attracting whales, or people who hold vast sums of Bitcoin. These Whales play their role in the cryptocurrency space and have sometimes been attributed to manipulating the market — on purpose, or not.

Whales also give an opportunity to measure the value in holding Bitcoin and what the sentiment around holding rather than spending is at a certain time. Currently, according to data from Glassnode, there is a heightened amount of whales in the space as the Bitocin halving approaches.

In fact, the data shows that the number of whales being seen at the moment bears a remarkable similarity to what was seen in early 2016. Early 2016 was also a time just before Bitcoin really entered the mainstream and rocketed to it’s all time high in 2017.

Specifically, 30 days before Bitcoin’s 2020 halving, the number of entities holding at least 1,000 BTC ($6.92 million) is now just under 1,850. At the start of Q2 2016, several months before the previous halving, the number of such entities was almost exactly the same.

Similar situations

The data presented may be anecdotal, but the resemblance between these two identical points in two Bitcoin halving cycles suggests that whales know the market well and are preparing for the next event in May.

Glassnode summarized:

“This trend implies that despite an uncertain market environment, whales remain confident that now is a good time to be accumulating BTC, suggesting that they believe there is further room for growth.”

Accumulation at this time, especially with the Covid-19 induced panic wrecking the market as it did in the middle of March, is interesting to note as many people would have fled the market with that gut-wrenching fall.

The halving is also being purported as a big event that could turn the value of Bitcoin around and send it skyrocketing again, as it has been done historically before. For Whales who are accumulating now, and why Bitcoin dropped down, this would benefit them in the long run.

For the Whales, the accumulation now means that if Bitcoin does start climbing their accumulated coins will be far more valuable if they are inclined to hold onto them.

Halving still a big event

The halving has been put on the back burner since the Covid-19 crisis-affected the markets, but it looks as if it will still be a big event in the future, but probably a little longer in the future then immediately after the halving like many hope.