Bitcoin Realized Cap Currently At All-Time High

New data from analytics firm Glassnode shows Bitcoin's current realized market capitalization has already increased by 50% since it reached an all-time high of near $20,000 in December 2017.

Realized capitalization is the measure of the value of each Bitcoin when it last moved, a metric that can be used to estimate the aggregate cost of Bitcoin to market participants, said Cointelegraph. Notably, the metric does not include Bitcoins on centralized exchanges, so the cost-basis is more accurate for long-term investors rather than to traders and speculators.

The Glassnode data shows that the current realized capitalization is at $115 billion. This figure is $43 billion more than that of 2017, the year of the bull run to $20,000. With the current market cap of $190 billion, long-term holders of Bitcoin should have a 65% aggregate profit, Cointelegraph reported.

A chart from Glassnode showed that the realized cap continued to increase throughout 2018 but decreased in 2019 before continuing its momentum this year. Despite the March 2020 crash, when Bitcoin revisited sub-$4,000 levels, realized cap continued to increase. Cointelegraph partially attributed the increase in 2020 to the Bitcoin halving, which happened last May.

In another report, data aggregator IntoTheBlock revealed 72% of cryptocurrency addresses are profitable at the moment.

Bitcoin currently trades at around $10,293 after closing at $10,233 Wednesday. While long-term sentiment remains bullish, bearishness prevails in the short-term, especially after Bitcoin failed to sustain the price above $12,000 and $11,000. On Sept. 3, Bitcoin finally broke down from $11,000 to drop to $10,160, its lowest in more than 30 days by then. Bitcoin made a slight recovery but the price reacted wildly after failing to break past $11,000 on Sept. 21.

It may be noted that Ethereum began its decline even before Bitcoin's shakeout. Factors affecting Ethereum, particularly the hype around decentralized finance (DeFi), has waned since and Ethereum naturally gets affected since the majority of the DeFi products are built on it. Glassnode noted that the second largest cryptocurrency's realized capitalization is still a long way from its past all-time high – 25% below the $35 million realized capitalization it had in early 2018.