Long-term Bitcoin holders reach record 16.64M BTC

Coinglass reported on July 21 that the share of bitcoin held by long-term holders reached a fresh record. The cohort of wallets that have not moved coins for at least 155 days now controls a larger portion of circulating bitcoin than at any previous point on record.

In June, that long-term holder group held about 16.64 million BTC, roughly 83% of the circulating supply. At the time, bitcoin traded near $64,100, putting the June holding value at about $1.07 trillion.

The 155-day threshold is a common measure used to classify coins unlikely to be sold soon. Coins that pass this threshold without on-chain movement are treated as being held for longer-term ownership rather than active trading. Analysts use the metric as a proxy for how much supply is currently being held off the market.

The increase in long-term holdings has been building since early 2024. After fluctuating between roughly 14 million and 16 million BTC following the January 2024 launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, the metric broke a downtrend in May and added more than 2 million BTC during the broader market phase that followed. The rise occurred at an approximate pace of 200,000 BTC per month before the June high and the July 21 update.

Market participants at different scales have influenced who owns the coins. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju wrote, “Strategy and ETF buyers absorbed large old-whale selling.” Data show that large whale wallets have added tens of thousands of BTC in recent months while mid-tier holders sold, a redistribution that concentrates supply in wallets that have not moved coins in the short term.

An increasing share of supply classified as long-term held reduces the amount of bitcoin available for active trading on exchanges. Historically, periods when more coins are held off-exchange have coincided with sharper price moves when demand shifts; similar buildups of long-held supply occurred during past cycles in 2015 and 2019.

Analysts emphasize the long-term holder metric should not be interpreted on its own. Crypto staking platform Everstake commented, “The price may move up and down, but the network keeps improving,” noting that supply-side measures reflect investor behavior and aspects of network health rather than serving as a direct short-term price forecast.

Coinglass’s July 21 reading follows several months of shifting ownership since the start of the year, when the entry of spot ETFs and corporate treasury purchases altered how bitcoin supply is distributed across wallet sizes.