Bitcoin $100,000 Era Begins… A Different Rising Market from 3 Years Ago Due to Rapid Hash Rate and Whales

BTC has broken the $100,000 mark for the first time in history, and the virtual asset ecosystem is evaluated to have achieved qualitative growth over the past 3 years. In contrast to the 2021 bull market, there has been a significant increase in new whales, and the BTC hash rate has also risen sharply. Experts forecast that the strength of BTC will be reinforced, leading to a long-term upward trend.

At 2:43 pm on the 5th, based on CoinMarketCap, BTC recorded $102,235.23, up 6.24% from the previous day. It soared 49.24% in just a month after the election of former US President Donald Trump.





A notable feature of this bull market is the emergence of new whales, unlike 3 years ago. 2021 was the first time BTC surpassed $60,000. The announcements of BTC purchases by MicroStrategy and Tesla, as well as the launch of BTC futures ETFs, drove the price increase. However, the entities that purchased BTC in large quantities at the time were mostly existing whales. Krypto Quant CEO Joo Gi-young explained, "While existing whales continued to accumulate BTC in 2021, in 2024 new whales are purchasing BTC, which is a distinguishing feature."

The rapid increase in custodian wallet holdings this year also supports this analysis. Custodian wallets are mainly used by institutional investors for over-the-counter (OTC) transactions. Institutional investors prefer OTC over exchanges for large-scale virtual asset transactions, as placing large buy orders on exchanges can cause the price to surge rapidly. Joo said, "The inflow of custodian wallet holdings has increased overwhelmingly," and "This means that the shareholder register of BTC is being reorganized." In other words, institutional investors pursuing strategic investments are emerging as new whales, unlike the previous individual-centered whales.

The sharp increase in the BTC hash rate is also a noteworthy change. At the same time today, the BTC hash rate was 818.58 EH/s according to CoinWarz. This is an approximately 380% increase compared to the November 2021 bull market (170EH/s). The hash rate represents the computing power required for BTC mining. As the number of BTC miners increases, the hash rate also rises. In other words, the increase in hash rate means that more BTC miners have joined the network, strengthening the security of the BTC network. Joo explained, "The BTC network's defense against 51% attacks and hacking attempts has increased."



The participants in the BTC ecosystem are also becoming more diverse. Participation at the government level is expanding, beyond traditional financial institutions like BlackRock. President-elect Trump promised to stockpile BTC as a strategic asset for the US, and Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a bill in August for the government to purchase 1 million BTC. These movements are spreading globally, not just in the US. Last month, a Brazilian congressman introduced a bill to establish a 25 trillion won BTC reserve fund.

Based on these ecosystem strengthening factors, optimistic forecasts are also emerging. Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said, "We are witnessing a paradigm shift," and "The BTC and digital asset ecosystem is poised to enter the mainstream financial market." He added, "With a pro-virtual asset government taking power in the US, other countries around the world have no choice but to focus on this field." Benchmark Company analyst Mark Phelmer also said, "BTC has a high possibility of becoming a mainstream investment destination as it is included in institutional portfolios," and "In this case, it is expected to rise to $225,000 by the end of 2026."

Reporter Yeri Do

yeri.do@decenter.kr