Large Bitcoin investors are on a buying frenzy. They've scooped up 358,000 BTC this month, which account for whopping $23 billion at current prices, quite an amount of money, to say the least. CryptoQuant, an on-chain analytics firm, calls this "unprecedented". Their CEO, Ki Young Ju, shared the data on social media. He says Bitcoin is "clearly" in an accumulation phase, which precedes the surge, if our historical data is supposed to teach us anything at all. These big players, known as "whales", are betting big on Bitcoin. They're unfazed by current prices, which are below all-time highs. The buying spree outpaces even the March rally when Bitcoin hit $73,800. Long-term holders aren't budging. They've held tight in 2024, regardless of short-term price swings. These are folks who've kept their Bitcoin for at least 155 days. Ki Young Ju points to spot Bitcoin ETFs as a factor. "In July, global spot ETF inflows were 53K BTC," he notes. These funds are gaining traction with institutional investors. The largest U.S. ETF saw $500 million in inflows on July 22 alone. But some analysts warn this could signal a price correction. The crypto market's already feeling jittery after spot Ether ETFs launched on July 23. Despite short-term wobbles, Ki remains bullish on long-term trends. "Whales are clearly accumulating," he says. "And it's an unprecedented level." Other market watchers agree. Bitcoin Munger, a popular trader, shared data showing the largest whale group "furiously accumulating". Only the smallest hodlers, with 1 BTC or less, are selling. This whale behavior is raising eyebrows. It's not your average buying spree. These big fish are making waves, and the ripples could be felt across the crypto ocean. What's driving this feeding frenzy? That's the million-dollar (or billion-Bitcoin) question. But one thing's for sure: the whales are hungry for more, and that is definitely a good sign for everyone who believes in Bitcoin and waits for BTC to surge as soon as possible - who are we to trust if not our beloved BTC whales?.

Marathon Digital Holdings has made waves in the crypto world. The firm just bought $100 million worth of Bitcoin. This happened over the past month. Marathon is the world's largest Bitcoin miner. They're now using BTC as a strategic reserve asset. It's a big move. The company plans to go "full hodl". That's crypto slang for "hold on for dear life". Fred Thiel, Marathon's CEO, broke the news on X: "Today Marathon is proud to announce that to strengthen our strategy of holding Bitcoin as our strategic treasury reserve asset, we have over the past month purchased $100 million in BTC, and will now go full HODL @saylor." This is a big deal. Large holders like mining firms can really shake up Bitcoin's price. This is especially true with the 2024 Bitcoin halving coming up. Miners might need to sell more BTC then. But Marathon's playing it cool. They didn't sell any Bitcoin in June, even when prices were dropping. That's pretty gutsy. Back then, they said they might sell some Bitcoin. It would've been for operations, treasury management, and general corporate stuff. But now they've changed their tune. Thiel's all in on the "full hodl" strategy. He reckons they won't be selling any more BTC. Here's what he said: "Adopting a full HODL strategy reflects our confidence in the long-term value of Bitcoin." With this new $100M Bitcoin buy, Marathon's holdings are massive. They've now got over 20,000 BTC. That's worth more than $1.28 billion. Not too shabby. So, what's next for Marathon? Only time will tell. But one thing's for sure – they're betting big on Bitcoin. It's a bold move in a volatile market. Let's see if it pays off.

A new survey by Kraken has revealed a surprising trend. American investors now see cryptocurrencies as having more growth potential than traditional assets. Bitcoin seems more attractive as a long term investment that real estate, and that is truly astonishing. The crypto exchange polled 2,191 US residents aged 18 and over. The results are eye-opening. A whopping 36% of respondents believe crypto has bigger growth potential than stocks, bonds, or real estate. That's a game-changer, and not only for crypto - the traditional finance will also be shattered to a great extent. Only 34% still have faith in stocks. Bonds and real estate lag behind at 13% and 17% respectively. It's a seismic shift in investor sentiment. But here's the kicker: 73% of US crypto users plan to keep investing in 2025. That's a lot of people betting on digital coins. The survey dug deeper. It found that 45% are "very likely" to continue investing. Another 29% are "somewhat likely" to do so. That's a solid majority. High earners are leading the charge. Those with household incomes between $175,000 and $200,000 are the most bullish. A staggering 82% of them plan to invest in crypto in the near future, and that might mean a new inflow of cash in crypto industry besides the ETFs everybody is talking about. But it's not just the rich. Even in the $0 to $24,999 income bracket, 59% are keen on crypto. Talk about democratizing finance! Now, don't get it twisted. Not all crypto is created equal. A hefty 70% prefer established coins like Bitcoin. Only 12% are into memecoins like Dogecoin. The researchers reckon this shows a "maturing cryptocurrency investor". It's not about chasing the next big thing anymore. Folks are getting serious. "This finding could suggest a focus on stability," the researchers wrote. They added that many now see crypto as a "viable option alongside traditional assets". Looks like digital coins are here to stay.

Ethereum and its layer-2 networks are experiencing a massive uptick in user activity. Daily active addresses skyrocketed by 127% in the first half of 2024. This growth stands in stark contrast to Bitcoin's performance. The leading crypto, which is clearly becoming dominated by so-called HODLers, saw a 20% drop in daily active addresses during Q2. What's driving this shift? It's all about the L2s. Layer-2 networks, built on top of Ethereum, are designed to speed up transactions and keep fees low. They're like Ethereum's cooler, faster cousins. These solutions process transactions on separate chains before sending the data back to Ethereum for final recording. Linea, Base, and Arbitrum are leading the L2 pack. Together, they boast a whopping 1.8 million daily active addresses. That's no small potatoes. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's co-founder, called L2s "the ultimate playing field for action" back in May. He wasn't wrong. Institutional players and NFT enthusiasts are flocking to these networks in droves. The numbers don't lie. Ethereum and L2 transactions jumped 59% in Q2 2024. But here's the kicker: most of that growth happened on L2s. They're outpacing Ethereum itself by a long shot. "The move onchain is driven by a variety of use cases," according to a recent report. "We expect to see adoption grow as existing use cases mature and innovative new ones take hold." It's not all sunshine and rainbows for Ethereum, though. Total transaction fees on the network dropped by 58% in Q2. But don't panic – this was actually by design. The Dencun upgrade in March slashed fees, making the network more user-friendly. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's been having a rough go of it. Daily active addresses fell 20% in Q2, and daily active entities dropped 16%. It's looking a bit like yesterday's news compared to Ethereum's L2 party.

Bitcoin, the granddaddy of cryptocurrencies, just got a major facelift. BitcoinOS (BOS) has successfully verified the first zero-knowledge (ZK) proof on Bitcoin's mainnet. This breakthrough occurred at 11:22 pm UTC on July 24. The implications are huge. This development could unlock new levels of functionality and scalability for Bitcoin. And get this - it doesn't even require changes to the blockchain's base layer. Edan Yago, co-founder of BOS, didn't mince words. "This represents an era where Bitcoin is no longer just digital gold," he told us. "It's also an operating system and a platform for decentralized applications." Yago didn't stop there. He threw down the gauntlet to other cryptocurrencies. "This marks a chapter where Ethereum, Solana and all other layer-1 projects are no longer safe from competition by Bitcoin," he declared. So, what's the tech behind this game-changer? It's called BitSNARK. It's a ZK Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge verification software library. In plain English, it lets developers create "near-trustless bridges" to move Bitcoin between the mainnet and layer-2 rollups. But what does this mean for everyday transactions? Yago explains: "A single Bitcoin transaction can now be used for transacting privately and for things like smart contracts." In other words, one transaction could represent thousands. This upgrade essentially turns Bitcoin into an operating system. It's no longer just a payment system. It can now handle "decentralized services and activities, like DAOs, DeFi, anything you can imagine," says Yago. Here's the kicker: Bitcoin can now upgrade without soft forks or consensus changes. "It is now possible to introduce any kind of features that you want to Bitcoin, in a permissionless way," Yago explains. This development follows StarkWare's recent milestone. On July 17, they verified their own ZK-proof on Bitcoin's testnet, Signet. This laid the groundwork for ZK-based layer-2 solutions to improve Bitcoin's scalability. In a nutshell, Bitcoin just got a whole lot more interesting. It's not just about hodling anymore. The crypto world is watching closely to see what happens next.