Menu

Categories:

Hot right now:

Follow on:

Coinsurges provides coverage of fintech, blockchain, and Bitcoin, delivering the most recent news and analyses on the future of money. Stay up-to-date with live prices, charts, and trading options for the top exchanges. Keep track of the day's top cryptocurrency gainers and losers, as well as which coins have experienced gains and losses in the past 24 hours.
Trust Coinsurges as your go-to source for all news and updates in the industry.

Menu

Categories:

Hot right now:

Follow on:

Coinsurges provides coverage of fintech, blockchain, and Bitcoin, delivering the most recent news and analyses on the future of money. Stay up-to-date with live prices, charts, and trading options for the top exchanges. Keep track of the day's top cryptocurrency gainers and losers, as well as which coins have experienced gains and losses in the past 24 hours.
Trust Coinsurges as your go-to source for all news and updates in the industry.

Bitcoin Whales, Not Retailers, Are Safe If The United States Government Begins Confiscating Coins: Analyst

Share This Post

Willy Woo, an on-chain analyst, took to X on April 29, raising concerns about the fate of retail Bitcoin investors if the world, especially the United States, plunges into a recession.

Woo, referencing historical events, argues that while large Bitcoin holders, or “whales,” are likely to weather the storm since they control private keys of their coins, retailers or everyday BTC investors might face a different reality.

Who Will Be Safe If The United States Government Began Confiscating Bitcoin?

The analyst compares the current market and the economic downturn of the Great Depression of 1930. During that time, the United States government, Woo warned, seized gold from the public to replenish national reserves. 

Bitcoin price trending sideways on the daily chart | Source: BTCUSDT from Binance, TradingView

Woo now raises the question of whether a similar scenario could unfold with Bitcoin. If so, it could potentially lead to more severe consequences for retail investors.

Whether the government will succeed or not will largely depend on one crucial factor: Bitcoin storage. Sharing data, Woo notes that a staggering 87% of Bitcoin is held in self-custody wallets. For instance, through these wallets, like the Samourai wallet, individuals control their private keys, meaning they can sign transactions, proving that they own coins. 

Meanwhile, roughly 1% are held by spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers like Fidelity. Spot ETF issuers, especially from the United States, offering competitive and low rates, have been rapidly buying BTC from multiple sources, including via exchanges and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, to meet the rising demand from investors, including institutions.

According to Lookonchain data, by April 26, all spot Bitcoin ETF users held over 834,000 BTC less than three months after launching.

Spot BTC ETF flows tracker | Source: Lookonchain via X

On the other hand, 12% of all BTC sits on exchanges like Binance, Kraken, and Coinbase. Most of these coins belong to investors or traders who actively engage. Through centralized exchanges, BTC holders, though not in control of their coin’s private keys, can liquidate for altcoins like Cardano, fiat like USD, or even stablecoins.  

United States Inflation Rising, GDP Data Soft: Recession Incoming?

While most BTC is held via non-custodial wallets, Woo said this route is taken mainly through whales. On the other hand, most retailers fall in the 12% category, keeping their coins via centralized exchanges. This distinction, Woo continues, becomes critical during economic turmoil.

Still, it remains unclear who a whale is, per Woo’s categorization. Bitinfocharts data on April 29 shows that over 65% of BTC is in the hands of those who control less than 0.1 BTC or retailers. 

Bitcoin rich list | Source:Bitinfocharts

Some analysts worry that rising inflationary prices in the United States and falling real GDP, as economic data shows, might plunge the country into a recession. For now, eyes will be on the Federal Reserve (Fed) and Jerome Powell when they set the country’s interest rate this week.

Read Entire Article
spot_img
- Advertisement -spot_img

Related Posts

Buy Bitcoin: Strive CEO Calls Mark Zuckerberg Over Meta’s Treasury

The question of when a Fortune 500 technology giant will move Bitcoin onto its balance sheet took center stage at Bitcoin 2025 after Strive Asset Management chief executive Matt Cole, standing before

SEC Launches DeFi Roundtable to Redesign Crypto Regulation

The SEC’s upcoming DeFi roundtable signals a bold pivot toward regulatory collaboration, unlocking high-stakes potential to reshape crypto policy and accelerate decentralized innovation nationwide

Cardano Price Prediction: Indicators Suggest Steady Rise Throughout 2025, While These 3 Small-Caps Could Rise 20x by June’s End

The post Cardano Price Prediction: Indicators Suggest Steady Rise Throughout 2025, While These 3 Small-Caps Could Rise 20x by June’s End appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News Technical

Bipartisan lawmakers roll out CLARITY Act, shift crypto spot rule to CFTC

House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on May 29, a bipartisan measure that would place most cryptocurrencies under a unified federal

Top Altcoins for May 2025: Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe Coin (PEPE) and These 2 Tokens with a 25x Prospect

The post Top Altcoins for May 2025: Shiba Inu (SHIB), Pepe Coin (PEPE) and These 2 Tokens with a 25x Prospect appeared first on Coinpedia Fintech News By May 2025, the crypto market is exhibiting

Can XRP Market Cap Touch $1.5 Trillion? Analyst Reveals The Math Behind It

Crypto analyst Egrag Crypto has made a bold prediction that the XRP price can hit a $15 trillion market cap He revealed how the altcoin can achieve this milestone by alluding to technical indicators,
You have not selected any currencies to display