Bitcoin whales hold market firmly in hand - delivered to the big ones?

According to a study by Credit Suisse, most of the world's Bitcoin holdings are firmly in the hands of a handful of so-called Bitcoin whales, Business Insider reported last week. The investigation showed that 97% of the outstanding Bitcoin assets are held by only 4% of the owners.

This is true for the digital space, which continues to strengthen global finance with the consolidation of capitalism - a few have the largest amounts and thus have influence and market power. Following the financial jargon, such heavyweight major investors are referred to as whales. Retail investors fear it, yet not only do they depend on their actions, fate and attitudes, but the entire existence of the Bitcoin ecosystem itself. But who are these Bitcoin heavyweights? And are small investors exposed to their speculation?

Whales are the largest sea creatures we know. Big as houses, meek, shy - for a long time it was thought that the sea giants had no influence on the habitats of other fish and aquatic creatures. One study now proves the opposite: according to these, whales make a decisive contribution to the stability of the oceans. Where they go their way, they ensure that others can live - their existence is divorced from the preservation of the ecosystem.

What applies to the largest marine mammals is also reflected below the water surface of the international bitcoin market. So, a few owners, the so-called Bitcoin whales, are the ones who call most of the coveted quasi-digital currency. Their actions depend on the continuity of the entire Bitcoin market.

According to the latest research from Swiss Credit Suisse, this week's number is smaller than it has been for a long time. So now only 4% of the owners own 97% of Bitcoin. Other estimates by US journalists from Bloomberg , for example , assume that around 1,000 of these Bitcoin whales own 40% of the world's traded Bitcoin quantity. According to the Handelsblatt , even only about 100 people have secured a full 20% of the market for themselves - in view of a current market capitalization of 196.04 billion euros considerable sums.

Bitcoin Whales - Who are they?
Who exactly the Bitcoin sizes are, except for a few media hungry to a large extent unknown. How they got their fortune, however, is easier to understand. Because most of the ocean liners are probably pioneers of the first hour. They mined the Bitcoin themselves or bought large amounts of Bitcoin for small sums of money - even before the international media public got wind of it.

So they were able to increase their operations hundreds of times in the course of exploding courses last year. The result: digital wealth that most people leave behind in the digital world.

Estimates suggest that most of these precocious optimists, the pioneers of digital payment alternatives, know each other well. Again, the result: A small, seemingly sworn community Superreicher. With that comes a few great taxpower with regard to prices and the market.

Agreements likely - shipped to the big ones?
Bitcoin whales, for example, are anchors and cleavers of the crypto-ecosystem at the same time - they keep the course, can fan it or send it down. Coordinated buying or repelling behavior makes short-term price movements possible in all directions.

The fact that such behavior does not seem unlikely in the first place lies in the nature of bitcoin itself. Unlike international securities and commodities, the international financial markets are largely unregulated except for the efforts of individual countries. Often, digital currencies also fall completely out of the grid of regulators and financial institutions - such as the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC in the US or the European Central Bank ECB in the EU. On the contrary, it affects the free market - and allows that Klein is swallowed by large.

In addition, such arrangements, especially with regard to the newborn bitcoin futures in the past year, for example, provide for calculated stock market profits to a considerable extent.

Voices from the community confirm the suspicion of collusion.

"I think the arrangements are very likely. And people should be able to do whatever they want with their own money. Personally, I never had time for these things, "

so the well-known Bitcoin early investor Roger Ver opposite Bloomberg .

In addition, it is precisely these movements for retail investors are largely in the dark. For example, US lawyer Martin Mushkin clearly distinguishes Bitcoin businesses from traditional investment products.

"There is no transparency in the market. In the securities business, all materials must be disclosed. It's especially hard to figure out what's going on in the virtual currency world. "

It therefore seems understandable that some may feel at liberty.

The cut into your own flesh is unlikely
However, the grim small investors and dystopian forecasts often overlook one important detail: the big ones, the Bitcoin whales themselves, are interested in the system's existence, joint repatriation is easier said than done, and the value of the currency remains at least calculatively rising , Because of the market limit and the limited number of Bitcoins, its price will continue to deflate.

To destroy one's own market at an early stage seems, from the observer's perspective at least, not very far-sighted. In this regard, it can be assumed that the community is likely to regulate itself. You will hardly want to cut into your own flesh.