Long-term Bitcoin Holders at 15.26M BTC Ahead of Fed Minutes

Long-term Bitcoin holders increased holdings to about 15.26 million BTC after adding roughly 316,000 BTC over the past 30 days, CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost reported. “The supply held by Long Term Holders (LTHs) continues to increase as investors keep holding their BTC. We are now back to 15.26 million BTC held by these investors, who are generally considered much more stable than STHs,” Darkfost wrote.

The net addition follows a period in late November when long-term holder wallets shed about 650,000 BTC over 30 days.

An aging effect is scheduled for May 23, when roughly 800,000 BTC that moved off a major exchange last year will cross the six-month threshold and be reclassified into the long-term holder category. That reclassification will raise measured LTH supply without new purchases.

Bitcoin traded near $78,047 and was down about 0.17% over the past 24 hours at the time of reporting. Exchange data show the gap between inflows and outflows narrowed for six straight sessions while exchange reserves continued to fall.

The Federal Open Market Committee minutes from the April 28–29 meeting are due May 20 at 2 p.m. ET and will be the final minutes produced under Jerome Powell’s chairmanship. The committee left the federal funds target range at 3.50%–3.75%, marking a third straight pause, and registered four dissents, the largest split since 1992. Governor Stephen Miran pushed for a quarter-point cut while presidents Lorie Logan, Neel Kashkari and Beth Hammack opposed language suggesting an easing bias.

Kevin Warsh was confirmed as Fed chair on May 15 in a 54–45 Senate vote. Powell will remain on the Board of Governors through January 2028.

Yardeni Research projects the FOMC will signal a tightening bias at the June meeting and that the Fed could raise the federal funds rate by 25 basis points in July, with the possibility of further increases later in the year.

Analysts and market participants identified long-term holder supply, exchange flows and the language in the FOMC minutes as items to monitor for near-term market activity.