Xapo Bank, a bitcoin-focused bank, replied to Thorn’s post, saying that large number of coins held in unnamed wallets is a sign that retail investors have been here for over a decade. Bitcoin is often seen as the first market that grew from the bottom up: Retail investors began trading, and institutions then embraced it.
“And why bitcoin is for the people and people ‘can be their own bank’ Retail have been here for over a decade. Everyone else still catching up,” the bank wrote.
$BTC is the native token of the Bitcoin blockchain, a public ledger that lets anyone, anywhere, send and receive money. Miners verify these transactions and add them to the ledger, earning newly issued $BTC as a reward. The setup is often held up as an example a perfectly competitive market.
A bitcoin address is like a bank account number on bitcoin’s public ledger. Anyone can see how many coins sit at an address, while hiding the identity of the owner. Research firms like Galaxy try to put names to addresses by tracking wallets known to belong to exchanges, funds and other big holders.
The caveat
The entire unnamed 55% stack doesn’t necessarily belong to individuals holding their own coins for the long term.
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