The number of Bitcoin wallets holding at least 10,000 BTC climbed to 90, a six-month high, even as smaller retail holders have been net sellers over the same stretch, according to on-chain data from Santiment.
Six new addresses crossed the 10,000 BTC threshold over the past eight weeks, a 7.1% jump in that elite cohort. More broadly, wallets in the 10 to 10,000 BTC range, the whale and shark tiers, accumulated roughly $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin since July 29, while micro-wallet balances shrank throughout August. Looking specifically at the largest addresses, holders with more than 10,000 BTC added a net 46,420 BTC over the past two months, their highest accumulation pace since March 15.
What's Driving Smaller Holders to Sell
According to Santiment's analysis, the divergence between large and small holders traces to two specific sources of uncertainty: the Coldcard hardware-wallet exploit, which drained roughly $120 million worth of bitcoin, and continued delays to the CLARITY Act in the U.S. Senate, which returns from recess on September 14 with a procedural vote on the bill expected around September 15. Both events have given smaller, more risk-averse holders reason to reduce exposure while larger holders, who are typically better positioned to weather custody risk and regulatory uncertainty, kept buying.
A Caveat on What 'Whale Wallets' Really Means
Addresses holding more than 10,000 BTC aren't necessarily individual investors. Wallets at that size are frequently exchanges, custodians, or ETF issuers consolidating client balances, so a rising whale-wallet count can reflect custodial reshuffling as much as genuine new accumulation by wealthy individuals. Still, the scale and consistency of the shift, a six-month high in wallet count paired with a multi-month high in net accumulation, points to real concentration of Bitcoin supply in fewer, larger hands regardless of who ultimately controls those addresses.
For now, the pattern leaves Bitcoin's price action increasingly dependent on whether large holders keep absorbing the supply smaller holders are shedding, a dynamic that has historically preceded both sharp rallies and periods of thinner, more fragile liquidity.
