Bitcoin Forum

40% of all Bitcoins are owned by just 1000 individuals.

This gives them a disproportionate amount of control over the market as they are able to dump them at anytime.

This is not to mention the high proportion of bitcoins held by miners and exchanges, who may have perverse incentives to ensure that as many people buy up bitcoin as possible and hold it for long enough for the price to rise.

Is there any way to deal with the high degree of centralisation that Bitcoin has?

Though 40% of the bitcoins are with 1000 individuals the market hasn't gone centralized.

The market is speculative, and this has made 40% of the individual manipulate the market. However the market manipulation is reactive based on the small scale holders. Earlier easily people used to get panic whenever there is a large volume of bitcoin moved between wallets. Now this is common and people aren't reactive, so that 40% of the individuals weren't able to have control beyond certain limit.

1. When saying bitcoin centralization, usually people refer to centralization of the network/nodes. And it's not the case.

2. I won't say that you're wrong or right, but without a proper source, that 40% and 1000 are basically worthless numbers.
However, like with anything valuable, it's obvious that the wealthier people will afford the risks to invest into bitcoin and will afford to buy much more than you or me. And I don't think that anything could be done about them.
But will they dump that easy? I don't know, I wouldn't be so sure. While some may hire companies to do market speculations on their behalf, others will most probably just put the coins safely and that's all.
So the number of whales actively trading should be rather small.

This is a very interesting matter to discuss.

Well, here's the deal. As long as bitcoin exists, such whales are always going to exist. If an individual is decided to keep those bitcoins, no one can make them dump them. I'll try to compare these numbers you've written (that I'm not sure where you found them) with gold.

Gold is an asset that it's owned by governments. The very much majority of gold is being kept as reserve and the minority of it is used in our everyday lives. So, I'm speculating that if bitcoin is meant to have a similar fate to gold, then we'll most likely live highly hierarchical times where few individuals control a big part of the economy.

My two sats.

You do not have to do anything with the whales. They will not easily drop their bitcoin to the market because they may move from a small amount and use it to increase their bitcoin amount. When those people believe in bitcoin and hold on tight their bitcoin because it is precious, they will not play with it. Maybe they only watch the price moves without doing anything. Maybe they may not know who the other whales are because they can only see the wallet address without knowing who is behind that.

- I'm not sure that whales prefer to dump away all their coins at once and do it on the spot market which has to go through a few complicated administrative requests.
- Since altcoins have become a trend, many whales have expanded their wealth and made bitcoin a hedge. So, a large number of bitcoins are simply circulating between them.

Saying 40% based on the amount of btc stored in the top 1000 addresses I think it's not close to accuracy. There are some whales are also more convenient to store btc separately to reduce the level of risk. Even I doubt that the number of whales is much more than a thousand.

Well some of them are owned by people like : Mr. Satoshi Nakamoto who I do believe won't ever sell his coins since it's like the stability is based on the long term holders, plus the one's who actually care about bitcoins are actually an asset for us..

Rest some of them are lost coins as well, I remember loosing my wallet in like 2012 or something, even if it didn't have much but this is more common that we actually think and back in those days people did use websites, did free spins, did advertising and earned a lot as well, but the value was not that much and most of them have no idea where the coins are right now..

Other than that I do think we should be scared hands down for the people who are left and not in that category, all we can do is make laws ( but that can push bitcoins to centralization) and at the same time implement them making sure we are not risking centralization.

This is from early 2021:
https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-whales-the-key-facts-figures-you-need-to-know-2021-1

If fact, the same was said in 2017:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-bitcoin-whales-1-000-people-who-own-40-percent-of-the-market

I’m not sure where the original source from the data comes from, not what it is backed by (nor why it hasn’t changed after four years).

The bitcoin rich list point to 2.151 addresses holding 41,83% of BTCs:
https://bitinfocharts.com/top-100-richest-bitcoin-addresses.html

Since we know that amongst the top richest addresses there are massive Exchange addresses, and that the percentage shown in those articles is nearly the same as the 41,83% I mentioned above, the articles (or their source) may have taken into their calculus the addresses of Exchanges, which would be incorrect.

Regardless, large whales surely have capacity to move things at their will, especially if they can find a fundamental that acts as a catalyst to boost their efforts. Certainly not ideal, and all you can do is buy some of them and hope that many do. The likeliness nevertheless is that weak hands will keep on caving-in into their strategy …

Very news of you to point that at with first glance. Let's be guided before the wrong impression starts spreading around. Bitcoin has got zero centralization to it. Yeah, whales do have some certain influence on the market with the sentiments they provide but, its largely dependent on the perception of petty traders as well. They pull the string by passing an info on social media or using any means avial to them and the public plays along to make it happen. Should the public not play along, your most likely to have a fairly stable and consolidating market.

40% of bitcoin to have been owned by a set of 1000 individuals presumably whales doesn't mean they pull there resources together or something. It's nothingbof that nature and there is no centralization to bitcoin.

I don't think that there is anything we can do about this subject. Because as you know, all people have the freedom of buying whatever amount of Bitcoin they would like. And this will never change in the future also. As a result, whales will continue to exist and will be able to manipulate the market with huge buy-sell activities. I respect everyone's opinion about this of course.

Whales control the whole ecosystem of crypto. They can create a huge influence to dump or pump. If we see other coins like xrp or solana's whales, a maximum of 5% of people are controlling the ecosystem. If they do anything contradictory decisions, the market would collapse, they pulled back the market. They make the market stable in its own way. From this concept, whales do what they need to do to make profits and also for the ecosystem.
You can read these articles: https://decrypt.co/78416/who-are-bitcoin-whales-how-do-they-trade
https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/how-whales-influence-the-price-of-bitcoin
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-crypto-whales-move-markets-nitin-kumar-

You should consider that most of those 1000 individuals which some of those are exchange wallets and also consider that there are wallets which are totally lost or been forgotten thats why i dont really believe about
being centraliized and asking about on how about the whales? Just let them be because even if they could really dump the market but doesnt mean that they do have the full control of it.
The community is big and as long there would be some demand then it could actually recover or move according into it.

The "%X of bitcoin are owned by 1000 people" is a meme at this point, because it's always different X that is being claimed - 40%, 90%, 99%. Because the truth is, no one did a good research about it. The thing about any wealth is that it will always be concentrated in the hands of the few, because once you get wealthy, it's easier to get even more wealthy.

I can't agree that Bitcoin's supply is centralized. Centralized is when one entity control 30%+. Satoshi only controls 1/21 of Bitcoin's supply and doesn't do anything with it.

The more bitcoin gains value, the harder it is for those who hold them to dump it at once. Some of those elite few may sell their bitcoins, but others who really want to hold it for some other reasons and not just profit will hold on to it. Besides, those whales will never offload coins at once, and they know so well that if they did, they will lose a lot of money and their bags will be useless.

Whales will exist no matter the environment, and there’s really nothing we can do to sway them.

No, there is nothing you/we can do about it. You can see the addresses but you don't know who they belong to and the great feature of Bitcoin is the ability to be fully decentralised so having a handful of people holding a large number of BTC is (I suppose) natural.

They have been incentivised by being early believers, and there's nothing you can do, they will dump and buy as they please - it is after all a free market and you must operate with this in mind.

This is the same worry that what if satoshi wakes up and started moving those untouched bitcoins. Well, those are a million of bitcoins. And that's why you don't have to think about it. If they're going to dump, let them dump it. They deserve the profits that they'll take soon and what if they're also one of those early people that have bought bitcoin at a low price and believed on it and held it until now? They all have the rights to everything that they want to do with those bitcoins that they hold.

Nothing to do and we can't do anything to them.

Bitcoin is still decentralized, even they are owned by some parties mostly (or whales) it doesn't mean to be centralized, and they also may not be willing for centralization.
Just go on because the Bitcoin market is still very interesting and worthy whatever the condition and holders

Exactly and you are right.
Due to the limited supply of bitcoin, there is the possibility that there is someone who can play the market and that is what we called whales and there is nothing we can do at that point someday soon when bitcoin has increased the individual holders and those whales will hardly to manipulate the price because it will become more expensive. I don't think bitcoin has a centralization it just sometimes there is greed for people who want to have a benefit from bitcoin.

Don't get bothered your mind thinking about the whales, they already exist before you and the people who come first had accepted that be going to happen. It has to know that these whales are also investors, we don't control them nor do they also have control of the market. maybe they could give a huge impact on the market trend but it doesn't mean they make Bitcoin centralized.

It is an old figure, it never looks like that this time and I believe it was more than this number...might be triple.
Anyway, we don't have a concrete source of information that could prove as people wanted to keep anonymous rather than telling others.

I don't know what OP is expecting here. But no one can dictate those whales what to do with their holdings. After all, we all have our own freedom what to do with our funds.  And besides, bitcoin is decentralized not a centralized coin, so he has no worries about this aspect of bitcoin. Even if we say, large portion is owned by 1k individuals or entities, still, it is not their interest to control the market. Also, the reason why we have this market performance is the supply and demand in play, now, if they will control it (but not gonna happen as I don't think they will be communicating with each other), I don't think we will have natural market demand.

The big question with a lot of those is how many are long term cold storage for exchanges that took some steps to make sure that they could not be traced.
Not for any other reason then it's none of anyone's business.
I could see Binance / Bitfinex / OKEX and many others having a lot of BTC in known public addresses and a lot more in unknown ones.

Keeps things a bit more secure.

-Dave

I think the only way to deal with Whales is HODL. Hold on for dear life. If you don't think you will profit more by holding on, just look at the price from the beginning. As you can see, your investment grows over time. But HODL is very hard to do it especially for new comers.

The Whales control the entire ecosystem of cryptocurrencies. They can make a huge impact for dumping or pumping. such as BTC whales have been sleeping for a while in their BTC wallets but one day it moves all the BTC out and sells it for a huge amount that will cause the whole market to panic before the price crash sudden drop, so that's why I think the whale is the key point of the electronic market because it determines everything about the price going up as well as the price going down.

In short words nothing, we can do. A major part of Bitcoin holding by whales does not mean that market becomes centralized. Yes, it is true that they can manipulate the prices sometimes, not always. If they can manipulate always then it shouldn't dump anymore, because whales will try to keep it up always since they are holding a major part of the Bitcoin. They can sell it at a higher price. I know that they could accumulate more during the dump, and they are doing as well. But to be honest, you have nothing to do with them. What you can do, just follow the trend of whales, so you will get some advantage from the volatility. Any other action cannot help to fight with whales.

I don't think that 40% in hands of 1000 people is a sign of centralisation. Moreover, everybody know that Bitcoin is the most decentralised one. But actually, whales on crypto market is a real problem as if we are talking about small market cap coins, they are really subjected to impact of whales that can pump or dump the price very easily and nobody can deter them.

First and foremost, to be clear, this is about centralization of Bitcoin as a native currency and not of Bitcoin as a network itself. Bitcoin as network remains decentralized whether the large bulk of BTC are in the hands of a few or well-distributed across the community.

As to what we can do to the current status, I don't think there's something we can do about it. But there is definitely a way for things not to get worse. I guess it helps that retail Bitcoin investors be properly educated of the potential of Bitcoin itself. If they remain as mere speculators, as pure Bitcoin investors who are only after the money they could gain from its price appreciation, they are more likely to sell upon profit. In which case, they are most likely selling to the whales who are acquiring and acquiring without selling. This is the reason why Bitcoin is focused on them. It is not only the fact that they can afford.

But if small-time owners of Bitcoin learn to HODL in good days and bad, this centralization wouldn't become worse. Furthermore, if Bitcoin consciousness becomes more widespread and new retail Bitcoin owners would begin to stack Sats little by little instead of selling, this situation wouldn't get better.

In the long run, however, a stronger demand will neutralize the impact of whales suddenly selling in bulk.

It is actually a fact to take into account, but it should not be binding not for you or for anyone who has just arrived at bitcoin.

You Understand me the point!! it's like you just do your thing, You get to be on bitcoin in the version that is: BTC units for some or satoshis for others, oscourse it not change the current holding percentages and it will not even prevent the list of large holders bitcoin changes, but we have to be present in the holding regardless of the amount, and that's the first thing.

Whales are the uniqueness of this business. These cannot be controlled by anyone. This is due to large-scale selling or purchasing of bitcoin. These are the ups and downs known as jumping dumping also. This act also can be seen in different stock markets but not as it is in the crypto market. Bitcoin is the father of all coins. So it's rising and falling affect all sub coins in the market. Sometimes whale is unexpected and some traders or stalkers gain and some get lost.

Sure that this raise the question of whether they are able to manipulate the market or not, but you have to take in consideration that these people who own 40% are not gonna someday agree on dumping their whole cap which will actually affect the market significantly, and even if one of them does people are not so influenced by drops that much anymore, the panic selling is just an old idea that is based on bitcoin not being a known assets that is always being at risk, bit now with crypto and bitcoin as a solid market that all major investors have part in it this won't affect it that much.

Just the Whales in the market will try to make changes in the trend. What we can do as a common holder is to follow the trend and make some profit. Whenever there is market manipulation from the whales automatically there'll be large scale fluctuation. Most of the time people panic when there is crash caused by the whales. Holders should not panic, but plan better to make some profit through it.

The whales dump the bitcoin but they later buy it back at cheap prices. We need to think in thier ways.when price is pumping, there is no need to buy the coins and wait for the dump to buy.

Retail just do the opposite, they buy at high and become panic when prices are lower. If you are able to buy and sell with the whales, you will also make a lot of profit.

You cannot deal with whales,,, that is the reason you and me are both here on this forum, talking about whales. Whales have no time to even be here, to even talk on social media, they are doing BTC on the side or have others working for them. We cannot even imagine life as a whale.

But on the plus side,,, we are the real users and the whales need us to keep the network active and strong.

So do not just HODL. USE  8)

The power still resides over the people. They wouldn't just dump it off and jump ship unless they got replaced by apes in human's clothing. It is us who will decide whether bitcoin is still valuable or not, and when we deem it as not worthy of the time and the effort we put in, our cumulative cashouts would simply overwhelm their efforts and bitcoin would be back to nothing but a cryptocurrency with an ambiguous use-case. Rest assured that as investors of bitcoin, as long as the cryptocurrency doesn't become centralized, we're good. not entirely true, we could do something about the situation because it's not like they have full agency over the cryptocurrency itself. In my book we are still the ones who control the price and fluctuations. Following the whale trend would just make the matters worst because that is utter submission against an overwhelming force when as a community we outnumber them. And it's not like these people will all of a sudden drop the price of bitcoin just for the lols. We do not know what their motives are but we can safely assume that as the prime figure within this industry, they will be responsible in keeping it alive.

Is the first sentence backed with evidence? It might be that you're talking about 1000 wallets, but wallets don't equal individuals. Many wallets belong to companies that invest in Bitcoin, and there are also some very rich wallets that belong to crypto exchanges. So measuring how centralized ownership truly is can be problematic. Also, to make big impact on the market, these entities would need to conspire together, and that's unlikely when they are from various industries and when there are tons of wallets there whose owners aren't known at all. Furthermore, big orders often happen OTC, so they don't really affect the price (unless FUD appears in the media, of course), so it's not that big of an issue, IMO.

It was shown in another post (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5365356.msg58164476#msg58164476) that the numbers are not correct since they contain exchanges' cold wallets, which is not something to be counted as whales.
So... yeah, the calculations are already incorrect. Then you're right about address/wallet relationship and the fact it can also distort the results greatly.

...I start to think that the topic may have been opened only to create a bit of uncertainty amongst bitcoiners.

IMHO, I guess those so-called 1000 individuals who own the 40 percent of Bitcoin total supply are already rich and don't want to dump or sell their Bitcoin holdings, that's why the price of BTC is on the rise and if those whales want to liquidate their asset I believe they will not dump it at once and if that happens the market is ready for them.

the growth of bitcoin in the market is very good. those with the most bitcoin holdings of course will not sell it just like that because the current price is already expensive.
not because I think they are already rich, but because those who have long-held beliefs hold it with full confidence, I'm sure they are not thinking about the current problem, the price is already expensive.
they know bitcoin will be more expensive and more functional in the future.

Are you afraid with manipulation? If yes then learn how to take action on what will be the possible outcome if those whales move. But there's nothing to worry about those holdings since for sure not all of them will manipulate the bitcoin and for sure each one of them have separate takes between their holdings and all of them is believer or maximalist which doesn't want that bitcoin will dump more than we can't expect.

Bring the pitchforks harpoons and get rid of all those kulaks whales!
How dear they have more coins than the average bitcoiner!

We should immediately set up an organization that would be in charge of fixing the number of coins one should have, the amount which he can sell in a 30 days period, and also a blacklist of persons who shouldn't be allowed to own bitcoin and be banned from the system
I nominate Yellen, Elizabeth Warren, Musk, Nikola Tesla, Iosif Vissarionovici, and Ogodei as supreme leaders of this supreme authority!


I remember Glassnode saying that the amount stored on exchanges dropped to the lowest in years below the 2 million mark, so we could drop those from the total number but at the same time, nobody knows where a lot of whales hold their coins. For example, the Inverspellitright Winklevoss brothers held 100k coins but nobody ever correctly identified all their addresses years same for Grayscale, it's possible all those funds are hidden in addresses with under 100 in balance if not less.

Prove it.

Where did you get this statistic from?


Only until they do dump it. Then they won't have it anymore, since they dumped it.


Bitcoin is decentralized.

Are you talking about the wealth gap?  That's a political and societal issue, not a currency issue.  There won't ever be a currency that solves that problem.

Whales do not need to give up Bitcoin, because they have not yet come up with an easier and more legal scheme to take money from hamsters.
You should try to learn to analyze the markets and not trade with leverage, because this is the most common way to lose your coins.

 whales are the uniqueness of this business. whales are to face bravely. This is the part of the game. This is also called jump and dump etc.
Through whales, some persons in this business get enough But at the same time, some get lost.
whales also provide an opportunity to the low-income persons or poor for a sudden rise. This is also the grace of this business So do not worry about whales but start facing them  with Masculinity

no one can stop whales from dumping especially if the price is really too high. For me the best things to do on it is to ride what they're doing, i mean when you see a strong uptrend buy if you're not late then when you see a small fluctuation always execute your take profit strategy, then wait for confirmation to buy again if it will continue to rise, if not then don't ever place another order from it because surely it will make more correction.. Whales always make hype when they see it's crowded but if not, expect there will be a massive correction that can lead you to a massive losses as well. So be smart because no one can really predict when whales gonna manipulate the market it's very unpredictable to be honest..

Whales having that amount not bitcoin doesn't make bitcoin centralized, because you and I when we have the capital can be whale's as well, bitcoin can be used to purchase many crypto-currency so bitcoin is not in any limited amount, so I don't think the whales have 50% control of Bitcoin so it's still a decentralized crypto-currency, but the believe whales have in bitcoin wouldn't make them sell off at the same time.

You can't do anything about it. Probably 1000 people own most of the world wealth too so It is not surprising that something similar is happening with btc. That's called capitalism. And the opposite where everybody shares everything would be communism. If everybody had the same amount of money, either everybody would have Ferrari's or nobody would have any cars. Some people must be poor so some others can be rich. That's how it works.

Well said about the working principle of the world economics. It is impossible to have uniformity with everything. Above quote clearly portrays the reality of the market. Let us assume the 1000 individuals owning the most wealth of the world are the most bitcoins holders. The common public is the nodes, just because of the bitcoins got hold within those 100 people these nodes doesn't stop its functioning. The process keeps running unlike the holding.

there is nothing you or anyone else can do, the rich are free to spend their millions of dollars buying bitcoin, if you look you will notice that it has even become fashionable for some people or companies to display that they hold many bitcoins, this has become a competition for the rich . the concern would be:

on the day that those who have so many bitcoins start selling how will it be?

maybe they sell in a way that doesn't hurt the price, maybe

but still worrying that a small group holds too many bitcoins

There are currently 2,755 billionaires and 20 million Dollar millionaires in the world .....with a global population of 7.753 billion (2020)... would you say that those people are centralizing money in the fiat system?

You do not know how many people have split up their coins in smaller chucks to look less of a target to hackers and how many of those wallets are owned by businesses and trusts and not owned by individuals.  ;)

Bitcoin wealth are more distributed ...compared to fiat wealth...  ;)

I don't know why people expect to be very rich by doing nothing. Those 1000 people holding a huge amount of risk by holding bitcoin. Whether they bought when bitcoin was under a dollar or 1000 usd, it doesn't matter. If btc goes down by 99% tomorrow, they are all fucked. Right now they are rich as fuck because they are getting rewarded for the risk they are carrying.

As a Bitcoin user, I'm pretty much not concerned with how many percent of Bitcoin is owned by whales or institutions, it's not like Bitcoin is a pump and dump coin that you have to be worried about people selling their coins, even if people who have large amounts of Bitcoins decide to sell it all away, it can only affect the price of Bitcoin for the short term, as it'll definitely appreciate back up again with time. Having said that, there is no way to deal with this OP, you can't control or stop people from buying Bitcoin as they like, all you have to do is buy at your pace and hodl, the coin has an actual use case, thus if you believe in the network there is really nothing to be worried about.

We couldnt really tell but this is way more better than with traditional assets or stocks on where they could really somewhat make it as some sort of monopoly or they could really control it most of the time but its true that with this market then it is somewhat not really that possible
even though they could really still make some impact but not really that much of a concern even you are just a small fry you could still able
to ride with the waves and take advantage with these movements.

The best thing to do is that we have to work with them together coz there is no way to stop them, that is the fact. And I think you couldn't deny that you are also benefiting from the high and low that they have created.
I know we think that they take control of the market price but that is really how it works and that is why we have to go along with these people. They can make huge changes if they want as they have the capabilities but it doesn't mean that they control everything in the market.

You cannot make your comparison with whales and still if they hold major portion of bitcoins in circulation at this time the btc still remains decentralised as you cannot make it like other altcoins in the market.With increase in prices the and and supply being limited the whales will be able to acquire less and less even at high paying budgets also.The best you can do is to make investment on your basis and what you can do and rest leave this as nobody is going to stop investing and there are only 21 million of them available.

I think that OP is mistaking centralization with concentration.
Bitcoin being centralized means that the blockchain can be controlled by a small group of individuals or an entity,who can change the protocol.This isn't the case.
Large portion of BTC is being concentrated in the hands of a few early adopters,crypto whales,miners,exchanges.This is true and those people can influence the Bitcoin price and manipulate the market,but there are two things to consider:
1.They don't want the Bitcoin price to crash to extremely low levels,at least most of them don't want this.
2.They aren't united.Having 100 or 1000 crypto whales doesn't mean that they will act as a team.Most likely they will compete against each other.

First you need to be clear that bitcoin is not centralized. Bitcoin is only crypto currency which is decentralized in true sense. Also it does not matter if 40% of the bitcoins are owned by 1000 individuals. They won't dump them together and even if few of them did, there are too many people who will be willing to buy cheap and hence don't expect the price of bitcoin to fall too much.

if the price of bitcoin will continue to soar, it seems certain, especially now that few people understand bitcoin around the world. the 40% control is not a worry if they keep it, and that means helping the price increase. but here there are different human natures, and have different needs, so their actions towards the btc they have will not be the same

You should pick a better term since people usually mean "centralization of the network" when they speak of Bitcoin centralization.
Not agree! Just because some people have more Bitcoins than others does not mean the centralization of the market.

Truly the 40% bitcoin owned by the 1000 individuals wouldn't centralized it, bearing in mind that thevwhales can't collectively decide to dump or sell all their portfolio at the same time, or once that is not possible, it is individual decision whether to continue to hodl or sell thus wouldn't have any impact on the price of coin if any of them decided to sell their portfolio, I think individual adoptions has a large proportion too thus the era of panicking whenever a whale dump or sell their coin has waned.

Whales are inevitable. There will be whales at any time, and we cannot do anything to them. When the price of Bitcoin gets higher and higher, we will also consider whether we still choose to sell Bitcoin or continue to hold Bitcoin. But most people will continue to insist on holding Bitcoin. We can only manage ourselves. Don't do unnecessary research.

I believe it is a natural life balance. Nothing will ever be equal in terms of ownership or distribution amongst everyone. Even with this 40% of all Bitcoins are owned by just 1000 individuals, this doesn't mean that the rest of the investors in Bitcoin have not been able to make profits from whatever amount they have been able to invest and if you have enough financial power to make you a whole, you can be that any time you want cos we still hear of people buy millions of $ worth of Bitcoins. 

Dont worry those 40% are not getting along with each other to manipulate the market so there is no Centralization happens here.
but what we can do about that? best to be good in TA so it will be be better to find profit on your investments .

What needs to be our concern is how we can follow their step and make a profit. That is important because if we only watch them move the funds without doing anything, we will not be able to make a profit and only regret the opportunity.

To follow their step, we need to learn more in analysis so we can predict where the market will move and maybe we can get some clue about what will they do with the funds.

Whales can only move the market significantly when volume is low. They retreat when retail comes in. They basically like splashing around in shallow waters. Once the tide comes in they don’t have any power.

The only thing we can do is create a new system where everybody gets xxx amount at the same time. You know who will never go for that? I think Bitcoin was as fair as a distribution system as you were gonna get. We can try again but wouldn't the richest just snag most of the newest tech just in case it "moons". I think we are in a perceptual cycle unfortunately at the moment.

Nothing really needs to be done with whales.  maybe it's not easy for them to drop their bitcoin in a market because they can switch from a small amount and use it to invest even a small amount of bitcoin.  When those people believe in bitcoin and cling tightly to a bitcoin owner because it’s a very important thing to everyone, Maybe they’re just looking at every price move obviously, because they may not know who the other is.  whales and they only see the address of each wallet without memorizing who owns it.

It gives them the advantage for sure, but without manipulating the mainstream media they will not be able to do much, People will start to notice their pattern because most of the people do the same thing again and this world lack intuitive people so they will need people to do mass manipulation into market, Pump and dump schemes , FOMOs , etc.

Also, it is not their best interest to control the market. And in the first place, these whales are not talking with each other because they don't know who's who are holding those big holdings. So how can they come up with an agreement to manipulate the market? Let's say, some have communication with others, but do you think these whales will really talk to each other and plan how to control the market? I don't think so. So you really have nothing to do with these whales because they have their own plans for themselves and it is not our business to know them.

There is nothing much the community can do to whales without causing downsides to the wider Bitcoin community. You'd have to implement some sort of decay or tax on these amounts which would undermine some of the very benefits of cryptocurrency (stability against inflation and general security). Whales in many cases are a blessing, because they are taking a vast proportion out of circulation and unless they are an outfit like Paypal then those coins may never re-enter circulation. If you're interested in seeing your holdings go up in value then that would be a positive for you. There are always going to be hoarders and collectors in the world, so you have to ignore/work around them.

We can't blame holders who have the ability to dump at any time because they're the ones who believed in bitcoin from the start and can buy it at any price. This is an investment, which is why, in order to gain money, you should be able to plunge in and swim in the ocean. Whales are whales, but they won't sell until they're satisfied with the profit they'll receive. Also, because the market hasn't gotten centralized as a result, it's still worse to have a bunch of fud cases than a whale selling his bitcoins to cause the market to crash.

Indeed, whales are also investors, we can't rid of them but instead, respect what they do and go along with them if we can. Such manipulation could be possible at their hands but not to say that they are controlling the market. And that because they have the money enough to direct the price trend, that gives them enough profit more than us small investors.

@OP, The fact that they are not killing the market then has no reason why we have to get angry with them. And besides, their contribution to the market is huge and that very helping for this become known to the community.

1000 individuals is a lot to count, so should we worry, and surely those 1000 individuals are spread all over the world, so maybe the bitcoin balance will be maintained. although sometimes bitcoin drops drastically, but that's very reasonable, considering that bitcoin is now very influential on world issues.

If me i will accept it, not want to force or think about something bigger than what i can do. If whales want to pump bitcoin then i don't have other choices to follow, if i have coins then i can sell it. If they dump coins and i still holding some, then it is time for me to be patient because someday they will pump it again.

The fact that whales have great amounts of bitcoins in their wallets is a clear indicator of the high demand for bitcoin. When demand for bitcoin, or to say it differently, cash balances, increases it causes the natural growth in the bitcoin price. The growth in price makes each bitcoin unit stronger in terms of purchasing ability, which automatically means that more and more people can satisfy their needs by buying certain goods and services. The more bitcoins are being held by whales the higher purchasing power bitcoin gets. Whales, in effect, contribute to everyone's wealth. If you still want to get rid of them, then the only thing you should do is lower demand for bitcoin by making it almost worthless as savings technology. In that case, however, not only will whales be selling their hoardings but also other people because their purchasing power will plummet along with the price.

Although 1000 individuals are many, I think we do not have to worry because they can not do many things with bitcoin unless they hold a lot of bitcoin in their wallets and are ready to do something. Bitcoin price is now getting a deep correction and reaching $59k but I believe it is just a matter of time for bitcoin to start another rally and when that time comes, that can surprise us because we never think about that. It is better you ready for anything that can happen 8)

they are the same as us what we think is profit and profit and profit, only they are more powerful to create market momentum quickly like when they throw it away but we don't need to worry about that, because in truth small holders can also be influential by way of togetherness transaction and hold it

I guess, we have nothing to do with them because no matter bitcoin they hold cannot cause anything to the market . Many of the whales are there for profit making, that is the reason why they cannot cause bitcoin to dump or to pump. Even though 40% bitcoin is be hold by 1000 individuals, it will hard for them to sell all bitcoin because they will be thinking if the price of bitcoin increase higher than this next week or next month or next year.
Now that the price of bitcoin is decreasing in the market, it is better to hold like the way whales are holding for the price of bitcoin to hit $70 before they can release half of their bitcoin for sale in case the price still increase more in the future.

That amount of numbers is enough to move the market if each one of them is holding many coins inside their wallets.

It's hard to detect if they are working behind any market movement. Whales knew how to play and if ever they were doing

artificial scenes, they are also the same investors that will manifest good benefit out from that actions.

You don't need to do anything about those whales, just protect yourself and do your own way of investing around this venue of investment.

But still, the situation is not the same as in previous years which the whales could move the price as they wanted. With many big companies involved in crypto and making investments in bitcoin, they will not easily move the price unless they want to make a panic mass and have a plan to make the price drop. Yes, it is hard to detect how they are working behind the market and we can only guess without knowing the right. Behind that, the whales are still active in taking part in the market because they want to use every moment that happens in the market. We only need to take care of our assets and follow the market moves but we do not have to enter the market if we are not sure and only watch the market moves.

There is nothing to worry about what whales are doing, I agree that whales are the same as us as small investors, the purpose of whales to manipulate
in order to generate profit. The difference is that whales have large capital and are usually more experienced, so whales are smart to take advantage of
any situation to manipulate prices for profit. Therefore, as small investors, we should not be easily influenced and panic if the market suddenly changes.
As long as we hold potential coins, there is no need to worry if the price falls, because usually it will not take long before the price will rise again.
Like the current market conditions where almost all coins have fallen quite drastically, there is a possibility that this manipulation is done by whales
to make many small investors panic and they can buy at low prices. What we need to do now is if we have extra money we can buy more potential coins,
and if we don't have the capital, we need to be patient waiting for the market to recover.

I don’t see anything wrong with the existence of whales, that is, that a thousand people own 40 percent of all bitcoins. No matter what we do, the whales have always been, are and will be. Yes, they can influence the crypto market, especially if they agree on coordinated actions. But we can’t do anything, because this is a decentralized market. At the same time, whales are also beneficial to this market. They revive it, periodically causing price surges and falls. Being the custodians of a significant amount of bitcoins, they have no interest in harming them.

we shouldn't be worried about the whales, just look at that currently the price can hardly be manipulated unless it is manipulated by some big news, but the whales can't manipulate the price nowadays in my opinion because the market is too big

Their existence is also good for the crypto market. Better mind your own business rather than be worried about what the whales will do to the market. Because whatever they are planning or doing, you can't do anything about it. What you can do for example as a small holder is take advantage of the market and just go with the flow. With the huge amount of money that they need to spend with, I don't think they can truly manipulate the market. They can make a dent in the market, but that would only be short.

There is still something to be done when Whales act in the market.  Follow it and don't be swayed by it, as long as the Whales make various patterns to raise and lower the market just to take retail money like us, we just need to be vigilant.  As long as there are still many whales who don't sell all their crypto, it means the market is fine.  And even though the price is bearish, it's just another Whales momentum buying at a discount.

That is a fairly good point, the fair market will be when the coins are distributed fairly and having more whales is a healthy one rather than a problem. I hate having someone having major control in the platform like some of the few institutional investing firm are having a control in the market. and that is the sole reason i am not able to predict how the market will perform this year.

If you think there is a good solution to this problem, consider all of the secondary cryptocurrencies that have not solved this problem and make it much worse.  It's not an easy problem to solve, because you are starting with something that has no value but need it to be distributed around the world. There is no fair method to distribute a currency from nil.

Whales do two things:
1) Encourage other whales
2) Discourage other whales

And both are important.
But it is a self regulating problem.
Whales encourage other whales by showing the long term value and potential of bitcoin.
Whales discourage other whales by the concerns in this thread, possibly limiting the broad use of bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the only crypto that has successfully made the initial transition into broader use and distribution, limiting the number of whales that exist. Eventually the value of bitcoin has to be in real world commodities and assets, and if bitcoin remains only in the hands of whales, then it won't make that transition and create its long term success.  Eventually these whales will either consolidate into major institutions (which has mostly happened) or distribute more broadly (which has also happened), both of which are ok for the system.

If already know that sometimes whale control market, why not just take an advantage by it. I mean if know whale can pump market, so we can follow the stream and maybe joined the market too, or if know whale will dump their coins, we can do short or maybe if hold a coin, just make sure we are ready to hold it longer. We can't control them and i think market still can't be easily predicted too although most of circulation is held by whales.

I think the one thing you have to know is that no matter how much that these whales are owning in their wallets, whenever they decide to drop it, there will always be people ready to buy it immediately. It’s not like they will dump it and no one will buy it, people are always ready for it.

So, whatever impact that they might have in the market, although I know that their impact wouldn’t be much because the market has become huge than it used to be before, but whatever impact they may have wouldn’t be something that would last for long. Maybe they can dump it and the price will go down a little percentage, but within a short time or within a day it would still pick up again. So this is no longer a serious threat in the market.

That is right, the only thing that can affect Bitcoin these days is the news. And it has to be a news that would trigger a lot of people to start selling their coin, and not just any type of news. Even the news these days can hardly affect Bitcoin that much. If the Whales are looking for what to manipulate, then it’s likely going to be altcoins where there isn’t much trading volume and the market cap is small.

Those are their main targets, where they can buy up a huge amount of coins in the market knowing very well that the market cap is small, and then they can dump at anytime and it would cause the market to crash. But that is not for Bitcoin, as Bitcoin is now big and has a huge market cap that would be difficult for anyone to manipulate.

Lets just accept the reality and it is just there are people who couldnt just accept that there would be always those people who are on the top basically just telling about financial capacity which is part of this life cycle

that there would be always someone who is better than you and speaking with market investment.Thing here is that you do know on how to play or ride with the waves on the time these whales make movements.
As for adoption and recognition then this is really something that do progress as day goes by specially on some circumstances which do makes exposure even more.