IntoTheBlock takes a look at the last week's crypto markets, highlighting data like the number of BTC addresses with a balance hitting a new high of 38 million.
Every week, IntoTheBlock brings you on-chain analysis of top news stories in the crypto space. Leveraging blockchain’s public nature, IntoTheBlock’s machine learning algorithms extract key data that provide a deeper dive into the major developments in the industry.
Crypto New All-Time Highs Driven by Increasing Blockchain Activity
Following the anticipated Coinbase direct listing, crypto markets continue to set new highs. Reaching over $2.2 trillion, cryptoassets have seen growing activity and speculation.
Last week, we covered how Coinbase going public was contributing to risk-on momentum in the markets. This time around we go over some of the fundamental metrics that have been fueling the rally experienced in some of the largest crypto-assets.
Eight out of the top 10 cryptoassets are currently trading within 10% of their all-time highs, excluding Tether. One asset in particular that has outperformed since the Coinbase listing has been Ether, appreciating over 8% within 24 hours.
The recent rally in Ether prices comes as on-chain transactions also hit new highs. Transactions taking place on Ethereum had been hovering around 1.1 to 1.3 million per day throughout 2021 despite the high fees.
On April 14, the number of transactions on Ethereum’s blockchain finally surpassed the previous high set in January 2018.
The growth in Ethereum transactions is particularly remarkable considering that the aggregate amount generated in fees is now 12x greater than it was in January 2018. As well, the total number of 1.34 transactions shown above excludes transactions taking place on layer 2 scaling solutions, meaning that the actual number is even higher.
Despite sometimes being as costly as $15 to simply transfer ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum, the number of transactions has been growing steadily since 2020. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has also experienced consistent growth in another key indicator.
The total number of addresses with a balance is an important metric to track the amount of Bitcoin holders. While the number of addresses does not equal exactly the same number of investors — since one person can have more than one address and one entity can also hold multiple people’s funds in one address — it acts as a valuable proxy to monitor network participants.
The number of Bitcoin addresses with a balance just hit a new high of 38 million.
The graph above shows that the approximate number of Bitcoin holders has been increasing continuously throughout the bull market. This growth showcases the growing adoption of cryptoassets and burgeoning activity driving prices higher.
While most certainly there is still a high amount of speculation surrounding crypto, there is no denying that key metrics of activity and adoption have grown exceptionally.
Moreover, the growth in these indicators creates a reflexive virtuous cycle: increasing network activity points to higher value, which then leads to higher prices, resulting in even more activity and so on.
As the bull market goes into full effect, it is helpful to keep an eye on some of these metrics. Ultimately, it is valuable for investors to familiarize themselves with the crypto-native elements creating value for these networks and use them to gauge when speculation may be getting out of hand.
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