Bitcoin UTXOs Older Than 5 Years Surged During Bear Market

If you have been following Crypto Twitter for some time, you have probably seen several tweets claiming continued bitcoin (BTC) holding by some investors during last year's bear market. Now we have the evidence.

• Bitcoin's HODL Waves indicator created by Unchain Capital and tracked by Glassnode shows that the percentage of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs) older than five years has increased by 17% in the past six months.
• The HODL Waves indicator tracks the UTXO age distribution. UTXO is the amount of cryptocurrency someone has after executing a transaction. Every BTC transaction creates a new UTXO. Its age indicates the block it was first included in and the last time the said bitcoin was moved.
• So, the latest sharp rise in the percentage of UTXOs older than five years indicates ageing of unspent outputs, a sign of some investors maintaining their coin stash during the market swoon.
• Joe Brunett, head analyst at Blockware Solutions, called the ageing of UTXOs a bullish development in response to a tweet by asst manager Capriole's CEO Charles Edwards referring to the UTXO data as proof of long-term holders accumulating coins at the fastest pace in eight years.
• Bitcoin traded near $23,100 at press time, having rallied nearly 40% last month, per CoinDesk data.