A crypto analyst at CoinJournal says “the party is over” and that Bitcoin millionaires are “dropping like flies” amid the ongoing crypto winter.
The news site’s researchers analysed on-chain data and found there are 73% fewer Bitcoin millionaires after 2022 after the coin plunged in value in the wake of the Terra Luna and FTX scandals, alongside tough economic conditions.
The cryptocurrency industry was valued at close to $3 trillion entering 2022 – and is now worth $800 billion.
Bitcoin itself has pulled back 75% from its all-time high of close to $69,000 to around $17,000 today.
While 25% of the Bitcoin supply was in a loss entering the year, now it is over 50%; the number of investors holding greater than 1 BTC jumped 20% as the hurdle has diminished.
“We have seen top 10 cryptocurrencies collapse, one of the top exchanges revealed to be a house of cards and numerous other bankruptcies and scandals,” said Dan Ashmore.
“The loss has been greater than $2 trillion, with Bitcoin shedding three-quarters of its value as at the time of writing.
“Bitcoin millionaires have dropped like flies. Entering 2022, there were 90,000 addresses containing over a million dollars worth of Bitcoin. Today, it is 24,000 – that amounts to a fall of 73%.
“The on-chain data sums up what is glaringly obvious from looking at a Bitcoin price chart – that the party is over and investors are no longer dreaming of retirement off their Bitcoin holdings, in the near future at least.
“Nearly three-quarters of Bitcoin millionaires losing that status is perhaps the best piece of data of all to summarise how ugly 2022 was for investors.
“Bitcoin’s returns before 2022 were astonishing. As a result, the bulk of the supply was in profit, with only 25% of the supply loss-making entering the year.
“By year-end, this had doubled to over 50% – another stunning statistic when considering that Bitcoin was the best-performing asset class in the world over the prior decade.”