Bitcoin rich list shrinks as cryptos sink

New Delhi: Almost 30,000 Bitcoin millionaires have been wiped in the last three months as the volatile cryptocurrency is witnessing a free fall -- from $69,000 in November to nearly $36,000 (as of Thursday) -- owing to regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical unrest.

According to data acquired by financial news portal Finbold, between October and January, the number of Bitcoin addresses holding over $1 million has reduced by 28,186 or 24.26 per cent.

In general, the Bitcoin-rich list has plunged over the last three months.

"Wallets holding over $100,000 have dropped 30.04 per cent from 505,711 to 353,763. The number of addresses with $1 million and above dropped 23.5 per cent from 105,820 to 80,945. Wallets holding over $10 million and above also registered a drop of 32.08 per cent from 10,319 to 7,008," the report mentioned.

The drop in the Bitcoin rich list correlates with the asset's volatility that has been heightened in recent weeks.

"A combination of factors such as regulatory scrutiny, turbulent markets, geopolitical unrest, and Covid combined with having an adverse effect on the asset's performance. However, despite the volatile start to the year, a number of analysts continue to laud the asset as a hedge against rising inflation," the report elaborated.

Due to the rapid decline in the value of Bitcoin since the start of the year, the number of liquidations has also increased in recent weeks, with $372 million in long positions in the perpetual market across all exchanges being liquidated in only one day, January 22.

"Given the anonymous nature of the world's most valuable digital asset, it is difficult to identify the individuals who possess the addresses in question," the report said.

Bitcoin, along with other digital cryptocurrencies, has crashed to its lowest levels and the continuing meltdown has wiped out over $1 trillion from the global crypto market value. The crypto crash came as the US Federal Reserve raised the possibility of boosting interest rates as soon as March and withdrawing stimulus from the market.