Whole coin ownership is measured by the number of wallet addresses that hold at least one Bitcoin token. Over the past 14 years, the number of addresses has been steadily increasing, according to data from Glassnode.
Growth remained stable even during the pandemic years, but researchers noted a sharp increase in the past year, when the number of addresses exceeded one million for the first time.
Photo: Dado Ruvic, Reuters
Last year, the number of wallet addresses exceeded one million for the first time. (Illustrative photo)
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“This trend shows a surge in significant ownership at a time when the price of the cryptocurrency was falling. Token ownership has never been more widespread and this is a really positive sign for the market and the surrounding ecosystem,” commented Simon Peters, eToro Markets Analyst, on the increase in demand.
This year, the cryptocurrency exchange rate is rather a sign of growth. For example, at the beginning of January, bitcoin was traded for CZK 380,890, this week on Monday it was already CZK 593,960. In April, the rate was even higher, one virtual coin was then worth CZK 651,860.
The record rate was 1.4 million per coin
Bitcoin had the highest ever exchange rate in November 2021, amounting to CZK 1,427,350. This follows from the information of the specialized server CoinMarketCap, which monitors the prices of cryptocurrencies on dozens of different crypto exchanges.
Ethereum traded last year in November for CZK 104,970. At the beginning of this year, it was only 27,010 CZK, currently the second most famous cryptocurrency in the world is offered for 39,590 CZK.
“The long-term outlook for Bitcoin is difficult to assess. With the economic news clearing up in recent weeks and the ever-present problems in the banking sector, the crypto-asset could do well in the next few years if it has a strong ownership base,” Peters added, adding that this forecast also applies to other cryptocurrencies.
How bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies are mined
The ever-increasing value of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies has created a literal gold rush. And not only among investors, who, with a vision of possible profit, eagerly buy whatever they can.
This also applies to miners, due to which practically the entire world is facing a shortage of graphics cards. The situation has even gone so far that miners have started buying gaming laptops in bulk to use them for mining.
As can be seen from the lines above, the biggest demand is for hardware that would otherwise find application in gaming setups. To mine bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies, you need to have a whole farm of extremely powerful computers, which are called mining rigs.
Special software is installed on all machines connected in this way, which then calculates pre-set calculations, the result of which is the profit of virtual coins. You can use them to buy practically anything, or exchange them for real money.
Bitcoin and Ethereum are not alone. There are already almost 10,000 cryptocurrencies in the world
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