Chainalysis data shows that only 19% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply is trading at any given time

By Selena On Jun 19, 2020

According to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, only 19% of all Bitcoin mined so far is being moved around by traders. About 20% more has lost specific addresses and forgotten wallets. That’s not to mention the number of BTC boasting about Satoshi Nakamoto – the creator of the Bitcoin network.

Read the full blog for more on what these numbers mean for Bitcoin, plus further analysis on exchanges’ trade intensity! https://t.co/ciU3EWVPcb

— Chainalysis (@chainalysis) June 18, 2020

Around 19% of the total outstanding Bitcoin supply is used for trading

As such, only one-fifth of the Bitcoin mining supply is actively traded, while long-term investors hold the rest of its circulating supply.

But for the rest of the circulating supply, about 60% has been long held by various market participants of Bitcoin. Moreover, users or businesses rarely sell more than 25% of the Bitcoin they have ever received and often keep that Bitcoin for many years.

Source: Chainalysis

For the 3.5 million Bitcoin traded actively, 96% of this volume comes from so-called retail traders. A retail trader is any market participant not tied to a financial institution. But in Chainalysis’s report, this is defined as any entity that moves $ 10,000 or less at a time. And the bulk of inflows (over 625,000) to Bitcoin exchanges each week since 2018 occurs in increments of $ 10 – $ 1,000, while other 125.000 transfers come in $ 1,000- $ 10,000 lumps.

Source: Chainalysis

Throughout 2020, around 340,000 people were active Bitcoin traders every week. It means 4% of professional traders/entities in this group (about 14,200) are responsible for 85% of all the USD value of Bitcoin value sent to exchanges.

Because of this, professional traders are the most significant contributors to significant market movements, such as those seen during Bitcoin’s sharp decline in March when the Covid-19 crisis increase in North America. However, professional traders are few, moving all that value in just 39,000 average transfers per week in 2020.

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