As the Bitcoin (BTC) halving approached, whales have acquired significant amounts of BTC in the past week. With around a week left unti the fourth Bitcoin halving — which will see the block reward reduced to 3.125 BTC — growing demand from whales indicates bullish market sentiment.

According to data shared by crypto analytic firm CryptoQuant, the growth in demand from Bitcoin whales has never been stronger.

Demand from “permanent holders” has exceeded the market supply of new Bitcoin for the first time. This indicates that the quantity of new Bitcoin produced by mining is insufficient to meet cryptocurrency investors’ demand, and the scarcity will only grow further after the halving of the Bitcoin.

The increasing demand from BTC whales added to the spot Bitcoin inflows will put upward pressure on the price of the top cryptocurrency. In the intermediate and long run, this trend may potentially help to push the value of Bitcoin further.

The Bitcoin halving is a milestone event for the crypto ecosystem and is often preceded and followed by euphoric price action.

Historically, each bull run has started months before the halving in anticipation of the reduced BTC supply. Post-halving, the price of BTC rises multifold due to the decreased supply and widening supply-demand imbalance.

Besides the direct impact on supply, BTC halvings also impact the miners responsible for transaction verification and adding new blocks to the blockchain.

Each halving cuts the amount of BTC miners earn in half, increasing the cost of mining new BTC. Therefore, BTC prices must rise to a certain level for miners to continue operating profitably.

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Currently, the average cost of mining one Bitcoin is about $49,000, which is profitable at the current trading price of around $70,000. However, post-halving BTC prices must cross $80,000 for miners to continue operating at a profit.

The whale accumulation phase is a bullish sign for the crypto market, indicating that big BTC holders are moving their holdings to cold wallets in anticipation of a price rise.

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