Bitcoin is holding strong at around $120,000, sitting less than 3% below its all-time high of $123,180, as whales continue to accumulate large amounts of BTC. According to fresh data from Bitcoin Magazine Pro, the number of addresses holding over 100 BTC has reached a new all-time high of 18,996.

The chart provided by Bitcoin Magazine Pro shows the number of unique addresses holding at least 100 BTC steadily increasing, now surpassing its previous peak of 18,544 made back on February 26, 2017. The data “can be used alongside the other Address Balance charts to understand whether adoption is increasing or decreasing generally for Bitcoin over time, and also whether usage is increasing or decreasing among specific cohorts,” Bitcoin Magazine Pro notes.

This surge in large holdings is being driven in part by corporate treasuries aggressively adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets. Michael Saylor’s firm Strategy has more than doubled its Bitcoin holdings since Donald Trump’s election win, boosting its total treasury by 60%. This accumulation coincides with a regulatory shift under the Trump administration, which has rolled back certain Biden-era enforcement actions and introduced pro-crypto policies, encouraging more institutional adoption.

As a result, over 160 public companies now hold Bitcoin as a primary reserve asset—up from just 43 in 2023. Notable players include David Bailey’s Nakamoto, which is poised to purchase over $760 million worth of BTC once its merger with KindlyMD is complete. And Jack Maller’s Twenty One Capital, which already owns 43,514 BTC, making it the third-largest corporate holder in the world.

A Bitcoin address is a string of 26–35 characters, functioning like a public key that allows users to send and receive BTC. Wallets can hold multiple addresses, and there is no theoretical limit to the amount of Bitcoin a single address can hold. While addresses with small holdings (e.g., 0.1 BTC) are also increasing, the spike in addresses with over 100 BTC highlights growing concentration among high-value holders.

With only 21 million BTC to ever exist—and about 19 million already mined, of which an estimated 3 million are lost—the race to secure large Bitcoin holdings is intensifying. If current trends continue, Bitcoin could surpass its all-time high in the coming days as institutional buying pressure remains relentless.

Disclosure: Nakamoto is in partnership with Bitcoin Magazine’s parent company BTC Inc to build the first global network of Bitcoin treasury companies, where BTC Inc provides certain marketing services to Nakamoto. More information on this can be found here.

source : https://bitcoinmagazine.com