Recent on-chain data reveals approximately 729,400 Bitcoin wallets emptied in the last month. Concurrently, MetaMask, a popular crypto wallet service, has seen its monthly active users surge by 55% in four months, growing from 19 million in September to over 30 million in January, almost as many active users as during the peak of the last bull market. Here’s what could be behind these trends.
The chart above illustrates a decline in Bitcoin's "Total Amount of Holders" since January 20th, contrasting with rising holder counts for Ethereum and Tether. This might suggest an exit has been happening from Bitcoin while other major assets in the sector continue to see increased adoption. What could explain this discrepancy? The answer might be found in January’s launch of a dozen U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The timing of this shift—peaking days after the ETFs' approval—suggests that investors are opting for ETFs to gain Bitcoin exposure. Given that this option is not available for other cryptocurrencies, it is not surprising that their adoption has continued to rise during the same period. Specifically, for Ethereum and Tether, the metric has reached all-time highs, with Ethereum at 114.95 million and Tether at 5.22 million holders, respectively, explains Santiment.
MetaMask’s monthly active users have also doubled from approximately 19 million in September 2023 to over 30 million. MetaMask, developed by the #Ethereum-focused studio Consensys, is a cryptocurrency wallet that enables users to self-custody their assets and transact through a browser extension and a mobile app.
“We define a monthly active user as someone who either loads a page within the MetaMask extension or opens the mobile app at least once during any rolling 30-day period. These moments, the 2022 bull market peak and today’s figures, represent the two all-time highs for MetaMask.” (Barbara Schorchit of Consensys for Blockworks)
This growth, comparable to the 2022 bull market peak, could be a positive sign of rising interest in non-custodial crypto transactions, #DeFi, and #NFT minting. On the other hand, the enthusiasm for DeFi and NFTs remains highly sensitive to prices, as evidenced by the surge in MetaMask users and activity on compatible platforms during the Q4 2021 price peak.