Record-breaking bitcoin is minting more than 1,500 'millionaire wallets' a day as experts praise its staying power

"It is extremely unusual for a bubble to burst and then recover to reach new heights so quickly," Ruchir Sharma wrote for the Financial Times.

• Bitcoin's rise is driving an uptick in crypto wallets hitting the million-dollar mark, Kaiko Research reports.
• The token's latest rally suggests that bitcoin is more than a passing fad, Ruchir Sharma said.
• "It is extremely unusual for a bubble to burst and then recover to reach new heights so quickly," he wrote in the FT.

Bitcoin's latest rally to all-time highs is helping push over 1,500 wallets past the million-dollar mark each day, Kaiko Research reported.

So far this year, the trend peaked at 1,691 wallets on March 1. Given the decentralized nature of crypto, it's difficult to determine the ownership details behind these addresses, and it is possible that multiple wallets belong to a single person or entity. 

Since the beginning of this month, bitcoin has gained another 16%, extending a bull run that first kicked off in mid-January, when regulators approved spot bitcoin ETFs to begin trading in the US. 

Bitcoin's new-found success may be indicative that the cryptocurrency is here to stay as a mainstream investment, Rockefeller International Chair Ruchir Sharma wrote for the Financial Times.

While the token's 2022 peak-and-crash may have validated crypto-skeptics, its rapid rebound underlines a more solid investment thesis. 

"Back in 2021, bitcoin was often grouped alongside other favorites of the day-trading crowd, such as unprofitable tech and meme stocks. Today those other bubblets are trading on average at half their peaks, while bitcoin recently hit an all-time high," Sharma wrote. "It is extremely unusual for a bubble to burst and then recover to reach new heights so quickly, and suggests that something real and sustainable is going on."

Sharma noted that around 70% of bitcoin accounts are dormant, meaning that investors are buying to hold the token. Meanwhile, rising institutional engagement is set to take the ETF market from $50 billion to $300 billion by 2025.

"Froth is a feature of any runaway bull market but for now it is the so-called fanatics, not the skeptics, who have good reason to celebrate," Sharma wrote.

Still, the latest rally isn't boosting the value of wallets as it did in 2022 when over four thousand wallet addresses reached the million-dollar threshold each day. 

According to Kaiko, that may be as the inflow of new capital has not yet come in with full force, or the fact that long-term bitcoin holders are selling as the token rises. It's also likely that more investors are storing crypto outside of digital wallets.

"This time around, whales could be taking a more cautious approach, waiting to see if the gains have legs before investing," the report said.