Sorry, Satoshi Nakamoto, we have failed you. On-chain data suggests Bitcoin is no longer being used as electronic cash. Most users see it as an equivalent of 'digital gold'. According to CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Jum, Bitcoin’s circulation has recently slowed down. The velocity of the token, which shows how is the crypto circulating the market, speaks for itself. Most of the Bitcoin on the market spend time sitting tightly in the wallets of their owners. There was a time when Bitcoin velocity kept rising. For instance, during the 2021 bull run. So it seemed as if Satoshi Nakamoto was right in his predictions. The peak of that velocity was reached in the middle of 2022. it coincided with the flourishinf of the bear market. But since then Bitcoin velocity has been only falling, Ki Young Jum states. As of now, the velocity indicator has reached its lowest for the last 13 years. In other words, today's BTC circulation rate is the same as in 2011. Back then no one basically knew what Bitcoin was. Nowadays, it is considered as one of the most promising financial instruments. Yet, nobody is actually using it. Seems like people have forgotten what Satoshi created Bitcoin for. We see is as an asset rather than a decentralized currency for everyday use. Yes, Satoshi's vision was simple. Bitcoin was originally meant to be cash in electronic form that works peer-to-peer. That would eliminate the need for any central entity like banks. But what we see is suggesting Bitcoin missed the target completely. Instead of becoming 'digital cash' it has become 'digital gold'. That implies no frequent transactions and erevyday use for most of the users. Some analysts say that the arrival of institutional investors to the scene this year is going to finalize this transition. Bitcoin ETFs will suck in a significant portion of existing BTC eventually. As well as companies like Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy that keep buying Bitcoin only to hold it for a long period of time.

Bitcoin can reach $1 million by 2033, analysts at Bernstein claim. This stunning prediction came as a part of the coverage of MicroStrategy, that Bernstein is doing now. Bernstein analysts state, that MicroStrategy is the biggest holder of Bitcoin right now. The company, led by a prominent Bitcoin maximalis Michael Saylor, now owns 1.1% of the global Bitcoin supply. It's about 214,000 Bitcoin, to be precise, worth approximately $14.59 billion in current prices. According to Bernstein, MicroStrategy’s active leveraged Bitcoin strategy differentiates it from passive spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). And might be considered more effective as it has resulted in a higher amount of Bitcoin per equity share. Analysts predict that by 2025 Bitcoin might reach $200,000. And by 2029 the price can go as far as to $500,000. That alone would be enough to make true HODLers happy. But analysts didn't stop at that point, adding that by 2033 Bitcoin could reach staggering $1 million per coin. And that might make MicroStrategy a phenomenally rich company, analysts note. As of now, Saylors's company sits on tremendous unrealized profits of almost $6.5 billion on paper. That reflects a gain of almost 104% yield-to-date from an investment allocation started under Saylor back in 2020. Further growth of Bitcoin could potentially transform its biggest holder into a true financial giant. With profits over $50-60 billion MicroStrategy could become very influential. And that is a sign of the epic changes that cryptocurrencies are bringing to the world.

Bitcoin is the only decentralized currency, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino says in a startling revelation. According to the man, who is in charge of the most influential stablecoin, Bitcoin is unique among the more than 14,000 various cryptocurrencies because it is the only one that is not centralized. An unexpected - if not to say sensational - statement was made by Ardoino during his interview with Cointelegraph. “Bitcoin is the only example of a currency that is only ruled by math that basically cannot be changed,” Ardoino stated. He added that some some cryptocurrencies are a bit more centralized or others are a bit less centralized, yet Bitcoin is the one that is not contolled by anyone in particular. “With the other currencies, you see that there is a group of developers that come every month. They are coming out with a new software release, they change the monetary policy, inflationary, deflationary, and they keep changing things,” Ardoin explained. But no substantial changes can be made to Bitcoin blockchain. There will always be no more than 21 million Bitcoin. And there will be a halving, which affects mining profits once every four years, until all 21 million bitcoins are mined, Ardoino stated. “Bitcoin is about certainty. It’s like a clock keeps ticking keeps ticking forever [...] When it comes to the concept of unstoppable products, or decentralized — because everyone uses the term ‘decentralized’ — there is only Bitcoin,” Tether CEO concluded. To Ardoino's credit, he openly admitted that Tether is centralized, unlike Bitcoin. He also stated that his opinion on Bitcoin's exclusive level of decentralization “might be controversial.” It's not often that we get to see such examples of candour from executive managers in the cryptocurrency market.

Brazil's largest bank Itaú Unibanco has announced expanding its Bitcoin and Ether trading services to all customers. Itaú Unibanco is one of the largest private banks in Latin America. It has more than 60 million customers. And only a small portion of that number were given opportunity to buy and sell cryptocurrencies with the bank back in December 2023, when the crypto experiment was first announced. The bank launched its investment platform – ‘Ion’ – and initially, the bank offered the services to selected clients. The bank said it would slowly open the new opportunities to wider customer base who download the platform’s app. Obviously, the experiment proved to be successful. Guto Antunes, head of Itaú Digital Assets, explained that the bank has been carrying out weekly surveys with customers for whom cryptocurrency operations were permitted. The survey found high degree of acceptance among the clients. The bank currently supports Bitcoin and Ether trading. But other tokens will be added as customer demand rises. Itaú Unibanco created all the tools internally. That includes crypto wallets for each client. The app has already been downloaded over 3.5 million time both in iOS and Android.

An unknown whale transferred Bitcoin worth approximately $535 million from a personal wallet to Binance after five and a half years of inactivity. It's one of those cases when even the richest people can feel envy. Blockchain data indicated that mysterious whale has made around $505 million in profit on the initial investment of 8,000 BTC. At the time of purchase BTC price was around $3,800. It is next to $69,500 at the time of writing. Here's how it happened. The whale purchased 8,000 BTC for just over $30 million in December 2018. Since then the wallet stayed untouched. Until yesterday. The story is quite outstanding as the overall trend on the market is floating the opposite direction. Analysts note that most of the whales - those guys, who have accumulated more that 1,000 in their wallets - are not moving their holdings to the exchanges even despite BTC price stalled. Most whales are not moving their coins to exchanges - which could be seen as a sign of bearish sentiment. Instead, they likely expect prices to spike higher in the coming days and weeks. This means that whales are bullish. Short-term price movements can't change their minds. Of course, the bulls might be wrong. And their expectations of the moonshot are never to be realized. At least this specific whale suddenly decide to call it quits after 5 years of waiting.