Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has released a report saying only 3.5 million bitcoin, roughly 19% of the circulating supply of the flagship cryptocurrency, is actively being used for commerce.
According to the report, around 20% of the bitcoins that have been mined so far are lost in dead directions, if it hasn't moved in five years or more.
However, some of these addresses belong to bitcoiners who have simply not moved their coins, as someone who mined BTC in 2009 and early 2010 recently signed messages calling Craig Wright, proving that he is active and in control of the keys. from those addresses.
The rest of the cryptocurrency's circulating supply, around 60%, is held as a long-term investment by cryptocurrency users who have not sold more than 25% of the BTC they have received. It is worth noting that there are only 2.4 million BTC left to mine.
The blockchain analytics firm identified 340,000 weekly active bitcoin merchants, and found that so-called retail merchants, those who moved less than $ 10,000 to exchanges at one time, were responsible for 96% of the 3.5 million bitcoin that are actively traded. .
Most entries to cryptocurrency exchanges per week since 2018 were in increments between $ 10 and $ 1,000, as around 625,000 transactions of this size were made per week. About 125,000 transactions per week moved in increments between $ 1,000 and $ 10,000.
Professional traders, including institutional investors and cryptocurrency whales, account for approximately 14,200 of the 340,000 weekly active traders, but they are responsible for "85% of all USD value of Bitcoin value sent to exchanges."
Most of the funds held in an exchange are held on some of the major cryptocurrency trading platforms, including Binance, Coinbase, and Bitfinex.
