Glassnode discovered that 784,000 addresses had one or more Bitcoins as of January 14. The number represents about an 11% increase from 707,000 observed one year ago. That number has doubled since early 2015.

As regards the factor responsible for the steady rise, Connor Abendschein at Digital Assets Data in Denver said it is due to retail buyers’ accumulation. Abendschein said the increase in the number of addresses accumulating more Bitcoins shows an increase in adoption as a store of value.

Another factor that could be responsible for the address growth is exchanges and big players called “whales,” as they often hold large balances and usually rank at the top of a list of the addresses holding the most Bitcoins.

According to a list provided by bitinfocharts.com, three of the leading five addresses belong to renowned exchanges Huobi, Bitfinex, and Binance. Huobi’s cold wallet is at the top of the list, holding 255,502 BTC at the moment.

Besides, addresses holding between 0.1 BTC and 1 BTC have likewise been increasing by 10% every year.

The increase in the number of addresses having more coins represents retail accumulation and has been remarkable until now.

The prices of BTC increased from $3,600 to $13,880 within the first half of last year and fell to $6,430 in December. Likewise, 77,000 addresses holding Bitcoins emerged within 12 months.

According to Yassine Elmandjra at ARK Invest, “Address balances are a good proxy for potential unique users.” He believes that the increase in the number of unique Bitcoin addresses is pointing at a progressive increment of the wealth distribution of Bitcoin.

Notwithstanding, the whales remain dominant in the market. The number of investors holding between one thousand and one million Bitcoins as of last month had 42.1% of the aggregate supply in comparison with 37.9% observed while the bull market at the end of 2017 was active.

Besides, it does not mean that the growth of unique addresses indicates the inflow of new investors into the market. For example, an investor may have 1,000 BTC in 1,000 addresses or more; hence there are limitations to the metric. Therefore, the growth of addresses having one or more bitcoins does not mean growth in market participation.