Bitcoin's parabolic price makes early miners millionaires

Data from Glassnode shows that the number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least $1 million has surged 150% to 66,540 this week. The rise of million-dollar wallets is attributed to early miners holding onto their Bitcoin for years, with the asset hitting a new high this week above $20,000 for the first time since 2017.

Bitcoin’s parabolic run has made early miners millionaires at an unprecedented rate. Data from Glassnode shows that the number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least $1 million has surged 150% to 66,540 this week.
The rise of the million-dollar wallets is attributed to early miners holding onto their Bitcoin for years, culminating in the asset’s most recent surge to over $20,000.
As Glassnode tweeted on Thursday:
“BTC surpassing $20,000 has turned all early miner addresses (50 BTC block rewards, unused or lost) into millionaire-level addresses.”
The tweet was accompanied by a chart showing the number of million-level addresses at or near all-time highs, with the last major peak coinciding with Bitcoin’s top in late 2017.
Bitcoin’s rally intensified on Thursday, rocketing past $23,000 with little resistance. On-chain data suggests another parabolic move could be imminent as BTC enters a new phase of price discovery. At current values, Bitcoin’s total market capitalization is approaching $430 billion.
While early Bitcoin miners benefited from larger block rewards, they operated in a highly speculative market that was more volatile than today’s. Today’s miners only earn 6.25 BTC per block, but as Bitcoin evolves from an obscure, esoteric concept to a mainstream digital asset, their efforts will be more reassured.
As Cointelegraph recently reported, cryptocurrency mining has grown from a small-scale endeavor to an industrialized business as more entities look to leverage Bitcoin’s network infrastructure. The influx of institutions has made mining digital assets more attractive than ever before.
Currently, miners produce approximately 900 BTC per day — an amount that is being rapidly consumed by institutions and businesses, many of which are recent adopters. (Cointelegraph)