Recent data reveals that bitcoin wallets holding between 0.1 and 1 BTC have grown by an impressive 9,563 since the year began. Meanwhile, the number of crab wallets containing 1 to 10 BTC has shrunk by 7,783. Bitcoin dolphins, sharks, and whales, those with between 100 to 10,000 BTC, made a noticeable splash, with 101 new addresses surfacing since early January.

Address Shifts and Global Bitcoin Adoption

As of Sept. 29, 2024, according to bitinfocharts.com, a total of 21.83 million bitcoin addresses hold more than $100 worth of BTC. This marks a jump of 2 million addresses since the first week of January. Back then, 8.9 million addresses held over $1,000 in bitcoin, but that number has swelled by 1.63 million to reach 10.53 million today. For those tracking the bitcoin rich list, addresses holding more than $10,000 in BTC rose by 781,250, climbing from 2.72 million to 3.5 million.

Bitcoin dolphins (100 to 500 BTC), sharks (500 to 1,000 BTC), and whales (1,000 to 10,000 BTC) have welcomed 101 new addresses into their ranks. Of these, 40 fresh wallets now hold between 100 and 1,000 BTC, with those wallets valued between $6.56 million and $65.6 million. At present, 13,960 addresses fall into this range. Additionally, 61 new addresses have appeared since January, each holding between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC, or between $65.6 million and $656 million in value.

Right now, less than 2,000 addresses (1,975 to be exact) boast between 1,000 and 10,000 BTC. As for the largest bitcoin holders, there were 107 addresses controlling between 10,000 and 250,000 BTC at the start of the year, but that number has dipped slightly to 103. On Sunday, Mohamad Hassan Fahs, better known as Sani and the founder of timechainIndex.com, shared an interesting update on X regarding individual investors now holding around 11.6 million BTC.

He pointed out that the latest data shows there are 54,411,314 bitcoin addresses with a combined balance of 19.76 million BTC. Of these, 12,423,601 addresses each contain more than 1 million satoshis, accounting for almost 19.71 million BTC. According to Sani, timechainIndex.com data also highlights that about 155,000 addresses are tied to non-individual entities like exchanges, corporations, and governments, collectively holding approximately 8.1 million BTC.

His data suggests that the remaining 12.27 million addresses, assuming most are likely held by individual investors, collectively manage about 11.6 million BTC. Sani noted that if we assume each address represents a single person, it implies that around 0.15% of the world’s population holds a notable amount of bitcoin. “This highlights how early we are in the broader adoption of bitcoin, with current levels still falling short of many expectations,” he remarked.

The timechainIndex.com founder added:

Despite increasing awareness and institutional interest, only a small fraction of the global population currently holds a meaningful amount of bitcoin, showing that widespread adoption is still in its early stages.

What do you think about the address shifts in 2024 and the timechainIndex.com founder’s metrics? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.