Bitcoin long-term holders begin re-accumulation after Semler Scientific and Mt Gox make major whale moves

• Semler Scientific takes a page from MicroStrategy's playbook with $40 million BTC investment.
• Mt Gox has yet to begin repaying users despite $9.6 billion BTC transfers across several addresses.
• The current bull market may be driven by spot BTC market as long-term holders have begun re-accumulation.

Bitcoin declined briefly from the $70,000 mark on Tuesday as Semler Scientific and Mt Gox made notable whale moves. Glassnode also shared key on-chain insights that breathe clarity into the market's current state.

Read more: Week Ahead: Checking the health of Bitcoin’s bull run

Semler Scientific and Mt Gox shock market with recent BTC moves

Health-tech firm Semler Scientific disclosed in a press release on Tuesday that it has adopted Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset after purchasing 581 BTC for $40 million - including fees and expenses. "Our bitcoin treasury strategy and purchase of bitcoin underscore our belief that bitcoin is a reliable store of value and a compelling investment," said the company's chairman, Eric Semler.

Semler also highlighted Bitcoin's deflationary design, growing institutional adoption after spot Bitcoin ETF approval, the potential for outsized returns, and growing awareness of its digital gold narrative as other reasons for their BTC Treasury decision. "After studying various alternatives, we decided that holding Bitcoin would be the best use of our excess cash," said Mr. Semler. The move, which comes from MicroStrategy's playbook, has seen Semler's stock rally about 36% in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox moved over 141,000 BTC worth more than $9.6 billion to several addresses on Tuesday, as it begins plans to refund investors their money, according to Wu Blockchain. While many have expressed fear that the refund may see many users dumping their tokens and, in turn, crashing BTC's price, the company has announced that it hasn't begun repayments - neither with BTC itself nor proceeds from digital assets' sale.

Also read: Bitcoin ETFs hit new milestone as crypto community awaits price surge

"As far as I know, everything is fine with MtGox. The trustee is moving coins to a different wallet in preparation of the distribution that will likely happen this year, there is no imminent sale of bitcoins happening," said former CEO Mark Karpeles. Mt Gox's eventual repayment of users may cause BTC to experience a brief decline from potential sell-side pressure.

Glassnode sheds light on Bitcoin's recent on-chain movement

Bitcoin's correction drawdown in the current 2023-2024 bull market is similar to that of the 2015-2017 uptrend (-36% max drawdown) after recovering from a deep correction of about -20.3%, according to data from Glassnode. The similarity is hinged on the latter being driven by spot prices since there were little to no Bitcoin derivatives at the time. In the same way, the 2023-2024 uptrend may be largely spot-driven following the successful launch and inflows across spot Bitcoin ETFs, noted Glassnode.

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Furthermore, Glassnode highlights that several long-term holders divested following Bitcoin's run to an all-time high of $73,000 in March, causing Bitcoin ETFs to experience month-long net outflows that saw BTC reaching a low of $57,500. "Over time, the lower prices and seller exhaustion started to give way to a regime of re-accumulation," said Glassnode. This is visible in the net inflow across US Bitcoin ETFs, reaching an average of $242 million per day — 8x bigger than the $32 million per day sell pressure from miners.

Additionally, long-term holders (LTH) have begun re-accumulation for the first time since December 2023, with a supply growth rate of about 12,000 BTC per month.