One in every two Bitcoin (BTC) in circulation has not been moved in the last two years.
53% Of BTC Not Moved In Over 2 Years
This is according to Glassnode data shared by Antony Pompliano, a crypto and Bitcoin supporter, in a tweet on April 10.
If you take it a step further, almost 29% of all bitcoin in circulation have not moved in the last 5 years.
That is over $150 billion in market cap that hasn't moved in half a decade. pic.twitter.com/33bivFYudV
— Pomp
(@APompliano) April 10, 2023
With over 53% of all BTC in circulating supply having not been moved in the last two years, holders appear unfazed by price action and volatility. What’s important to note is that the number of coins that have remained dormant over the last two years has been rising. Glassnode data shows that it is at the highest level at current levels.
A level deeper, Pompliano noticed that over 29% of all BTC in circulation, translating to a market capitalization of over $159 billion, has not been moved over the last five years. Meanwhile, about 15% of BTC has not been moved over the last decade. The coins that have not been moved over during this time, Pompliano notes, roughly equates to 15% or the over 2.5 million BTC assumed to be permanently lost or irretrievable.
Unlike fiat transactions, the immutable nature of Bitcoin means once transactions have been confirmed on-chain, they cannot be reversed. Over the years, millions of coins have been lost, and many assume they cannot be recovered. This includes the big batch of coins mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin. Before disappearing in 2011, Nakamoto mined approximately 1 million BTC.
Bitcoin Total Supply Is Limited
The United States government is also one of the largest holders of Bitcoin, and they control the keys to these coins. On-chain trackers show that they hold 205,000 BTC, though they have been selling them regularly. Other large Bitcoin holders include MicroStrategy, the business intelligence firm with shares listed on the NASDAQ, and Tesla, the electric car maker.
Bitcoin is a transactional layer, allowing users to send funds across borders conveniently using BTC, the network’s native currency. The coin’s total supply is limited to 21 million. Because the network is the first blockchain network with widespread support, the coin is also the most valuable cryptocurrency.
As of April 11, each BTC in circulation was trading at over $30,000, translating to a market capitalization of $581,675,399,193. This pushes Bitcoin’s dominance by the total crypto market share to 47%, according to data from CoinMarketCap (CMC), a coin tracker.
