Bitcoin (BTC) Social Interest Drops Amid Altcoin Mania But Whale Accumulation Continues

Bitcoin (BTC) has been playing a catch-up rally with Ethereum (ETH) on Thursday and surged around 4% to move past $37,500 levels. With Bitcoin consolidation for a while and the altcoin mania recently picking up, the social interest for Bitcoin has dropped in recent times. As noted by Santiment, Bitcoin’s social discussion rates compared to other crypto has dropped to a 2-month low.

As Santiment notes, based on historical market trends, Bitcoin and altcoins usually shift their rally periods alternatively. So once the altcoin market cools down, we can possibly see money coming back to Bitcoin. Apart from altcoin, the DeFi market is also heated up significantly.

As per data on Messari, the DeFi market has surged 325% since the beginning of 2021. The total DeFi crypto market cap stands at $34.68 billion. Also, there’s every reason for money to come back to Bitcoin because of its improving fundamentals and on-chain metrics.

Bitcoin’s Improving Fundamentals and On-Chain Metrics

Earlier this week, as CoinGape reported, there were massive Bitcoin exchange outflows leading to Bitcoin liquidity crunch. On the other hand, the Bitcoin whale accumulation continues. The mid-tier whales holding between 1000-10,000 Bitcoin have recently outgrown even the smaller players.

On-chain data provider Glassnode mentions that since the beginning of 2021, over 200 such whale addresses have appeared in the Bitcoin network. Glassnode notes:

“The number of #Bitcoin whales (entities holding ≥ 1k $BTC) has seen an astounding increase. Since the beginning of the year, more than 200 new whale entities have appeared in the network –– data supporting the case that institutions are arriving”.

On the other hand, another data from Glassnode notes that Bitcoin (BTC) balance on exchanges has now hit a 2-year low as of Thursday, February 4. Over the last 20 days, the institutional buying in Bitcoin has picked up once again as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has acquired over 40,000 Bitcoins in a short time. GBTC’s total Bitcoin holding now stands at ~650K with net assets under management at $24.3 billion.