Retail traders face heavy unrealized losses as institutions quietly accumulate.
The latest Bitcoin news shows retail investors languishing in losses while nation-states quietly stack Bitcoin crypto. The UAE has been actively engaged in crypto, especially through mining. Reports revealed that it mined over $453 million in BTC through its Citadel partnership, and on-chain data showed they have sold barely any.
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, the UAE Royal Group’s wallet held 6,782 BTC valued at $453.64 million as of 19 February. None of that Bitcoin was purchased; rather, it was the proceeds from Bitcoin mining operations.
The nation is up $344 million in profit on their BTC, factoring in the energy costs to produce the Bitcoin.
At the peak of Bitcoin price in October, the UAE BTC stash was worth well over $650 million, but its value has since dropped with the price of the asset. The nation has not moved its BTC in four months, signaling their conviction in the asset and its future price implications.
Across the Atlantic, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon finally dropped the skeptic act and has started to warm up to Bitcoin. Speaking at the World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, he admitted to personally holding some Bitcoin. Solomon, who was once cautious about BTC, now says he is an observer, not a “great Bitcoin prognosticator”.
He, however, acknowledged that Goldman Sachs cannot directly own or trade BTC because of unfavorable regulations on banking institutions. Solomon also said he would consider Bitcoin for Goldman Sachs if regulations changed.
Such Bitcoin news matters because it highlights a Wall Street titan warming up to the cryptocurrency. Many crypto investors saw this as another legacy finance nod.
Meanwhile, retail and mid-size holders have taken hits courtesy of the bearish short-term price action. CryptoQuant data shows traders who held BTC for 1-3 months registered $27.89 billion in unrealized losses.
These are mostly self-custody whales holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC. CryptoQuant analyst GugaOnChain noted that maintaining the price of Bitcoin between $66K and $70K and preventing a collapse is a long shot as “it was still too early for the bear market to end.”
This is despite an earlier analysis showing Accumulator addresses had scooped up approximately 372,000 BTC, with retail buying up 6,384 BTC in the last 30 days.
Bitcoin price dropped 1.6% in the last 24 hours, and it exchanged hands at $67,096 at press time. GugaOnchain noted that the $60,000 price region had the highest trading volume concentration, meaning it may manifest as support if price slides lower.
In a bearish market scenario, Bitcoin crypto may drop towards $54,800, another key support according to on-chain data. This is the average cost basis for the largest majority of BTC holders.
Below that, breaking Bitcoin news headlines would start focusing on capitulation, with price expected to slide towards the next support at $42,000. The last time Bitcoin price retested this level was in February 2024.
On the institutional end, spot ETFs have bled $8.5 billion in value since October. Data from Soso Value shows major ETFs, excluding Solana, saw outflows on February 18.
Bitcoin ETF lost $133.27 million, Ethereum ETF lost $41.83 million, and XRP ETFs shed $2.21 million. Meanwhile, Solana ETF gained $2.4 million in inflows.
While retail stares at red portfolios, the UAE has printed hundreds of millions in profit from holding.
Goldman Sachs CEO finally joining the crypto club changes the game at the macro level, especially considering several crypto regulations are in the pipeline. The latest Bitcoin news reveals one thing: the market favors long-term players.
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