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Shrimpers are sweeping BTC off the market faster than at the peak of the 2017 bull market

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In cryptocurrency slang, shrimpers are holders who have less than 1 BTC in their wallet. Right now, the number of shrimpers in the market is growing as fast as possible. Even at the peak of the historic bull market in late 2017, they weren’t arriving in such numbers.

Shrimp are near the bottom of bitcoin’s joke food chain, just above plankton. The lowest kind of cryptocurrency organisms are holders with less than 0.05 BTC. This is not the only classification of bitcoin holders, but it gives an idea of the size and importance of the various market participants.

Bitcoin shrimp are gaining ground

Previously, the number of small bitcoin addresses is steadily growing despite a deep correction in the market. The number of wallets with balances of over 0.01 BTC and over 0.1 BTC has been steadily increasing since early 2021.

However, this trend accelerated in mid-June 2022. During previous market cycles, such dynamics in the bitcoin network indicated a bull market acceleration. In contrast, during major market corrections, onchain analysis generally indicated a slight increase, stagnation, or even a decrease in the number of addresses with a balance of less than 0.1 BTC.

Well-known analyst in cryptocurrency circles @WClementeIII tweeted a 90-day graph of changes in the number of coins in the hands of small holders (no more than 1 BTC in the wallet). It shows the strong growth of bitcoins in shrimp wallets. The current values have left behind the levels of late 2017, when the market was dominated by bullish sentiment and the BTC exchange rate reached an all-time high of $20,000 at the time.

During that time, BTC managed to plummet to $69,000, fall 70% in price, and return to the landmark level of 2017. Bearish sentiment and extreme fear are in stark contrast to the euphoria and exorbitant greed that reigned over the market in late 2017. And yet the shrimpers are behaving just as they did then. Moreover, they are buying bitcoin even more willingly, believing that now is the right time to do so.

Why shrimp are buying BTC

The classic market axiom is that “retail is never right.” With 2017, it’s clear: Small investors were buying at the peak and big whales were dumping coins. They sold at the best possible time. But the situation is different now. Shrimp accumulates bitcoin in large quantities after it has already lost 70% of its value.

But there is a third possibility: the increase in the number of holders with a balance less than 1 BTC, does not indicate an influx of small private investors. It’s possible that people are simply splitting their investments, opening many wallets with small balances. This was pointed out by another well-known crypto analyst @woonomic. He wrote:

“Keep in mind that such data on the number of holders is extremely unstable and tends to be overly optimistic on short intervals. It takes a couple of years for the statistics to settle down. For example, it is assumed that small transactions are made by new people and then it turns out that they belong to an existing investor who has more than 1 BTC.”

Cryptocurrency podcast host @VentureCoinist, thinks the influx of shrimp is still a sign of an impending downturn.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t see what happened the last time this metric went up this much.”

Finally, another user @fusillifadi, posted data that seems to support Clemente’s assumption of organic shrimp growth. Citing data from cooper.co, he provided a graph of the average daily growth rate of wallets with balances under 1 BTC.

Since the end of 2021, year, we have seen a clear trend of shrimp growth that can only be compared to 2017. Although the last period of 2017 saw a much larger increase, the current numbers are ahead of the trend recorded in 2018-2021.

Shrimp buy bitcoins mostly from miners. In 2017, 49% of bitcoins sold by miners went to wallets with a balance of less than 1 BTC. In 2022, that figure rose to 75%. Other onchain statistics confirm the surrender of miners. Thus, we get the answer to the question of who supplies bitcoins to the shrimpers.

Cryptocurrency

$500M in Shorts Liquidated as Bitcoin (BTC) Blasts Above $101K

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It almost felt inevitable today that bitcoin will eventually break past the coveted $100,000 milestone and after a brief hesitation, the asset has soared to a new multi-month peak above $101,000.

The altcoins have followed suit with massive price gains from the likes of PEPE, SUI, FARTCOIN, and many others.

BTCUSD. Source: TradingView
BTCUSD. Source: TradingView

CryptoPotato reported earlier today that BTC had risen to $99,700 amid reports that China and the US will have talks later this week in Switzerland in regards to striking a tariff deal. Later, Trump teased a big announcement for tomorrow that will involve the UK.

BTC stood close to the six-digit entry territory for almost the entire day and was stopped there at first. However, the asset flew past it an hour ago and kept surging to a new three-month peak of over $101,000.

Recall that just a month ago the primary cryptocurrency struggled below $80,000 and even dumped to a 2025 low of under $75,000 amid the darkest hours of the Trade War.

Now, though, bitcoin’s realized cap has marked another all-time high, while the break above $100,000 could be different than previous such increases.

VIRTUAL and PENGU lead the daily gains from the top 100 alts, with price surges of 36% and 33%, respectively. PEPE, SUI, and FARTCOIN follow suit by charting 20-25% daily jumps.

Even Ethereum has soared by double digits in the past 24 hours, and managed to break past $2,000 for the first time in well over a month.

The total value of liquidations on a daily scale is up to $580 million, according to CoinGlass. The majority, expectedly, comes from short positions (almost $500 million). The total number of wrecked trades is above 145,000.

Liquidation Heat Map. Source: CoinGlass
Liquidations Heat Map. Source: CoinGlass
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SKALE Announces BITE Protocol to Protect Against Blockchain Industry’s Nearly $2 Billion MEV Vulnerability

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[PRESS RELEASE – San Francisco, CA, May 8th, 2025]

BITE is set to become the first protocol to eliminate MEV at the consensus level, ending front-running, sandwich attacks, and other transaction exploits.

SKALE Labs, the team behind the gas-free invisible blockchain network SKALE, today announced the launch of BITE Protocol, the industry’s first consensus-level solution designed to eliminate Maximal Extractable Value (MEV). With over $1.8 billion lost to MEV extraction since 2020, BITE Protocol seeks to bring blockchain transactions in line with that of traditional finance transactions, eliminating front-running tactics that have plagued the industry as more traditional institutions enter the space.

BITE, short for ‘Blockchain Integrated Threshold Encryption‘, prevents any party, including validators, from accessing transaction contents before a block is finalized. While previous attempts at eliminating MEV have only addressed issues at a surface level, BITE’s new cryptographic protocol integrates threshold encryption directly into the consensus layer, creating a fundamentally level playing field for all blockchain participants. By encrypting transactions before they enter the mempool and only decrypting them after block finalization, BITE delivers true transaction privacy and fairness.

SKALE Labs CEO and Co-Founder Jack O’Holleran commented, “BITE Protocol represents a watershed moment for blockchain technology, which could result in making current L1 blockchain technology obsolete. BITE Protocol encrypts consensus and completely removes MEV from blockchain, finally putting an end to front-running, sandwich attacks, time bandit attacks, and other methods of taking value from end users. Rather than applying band-aid solutions to the MEV problem, BITE addresses it at its root through cryptographic guarantees in the consensus layer itself. “

The protocol is poised to transform the blockchain landscape from one where privileged actors can exploit ordinary users to one where everyone operates with the same information at the same time, bringing blockchain closer to the fairness expected in traditional financial markets while maintaining its decentralized nature. The protocol’s impact extends across decentralized exchanges, NFT marketplaces, lending protocols, on-chain games, prediction markets, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platforms, where transaction fairness and privacy are essential for bringing traditional assets onto blockchain networks.

For more information, please visit: https://skale.space/blog/introducing-bite-protocol-the-end-of-mev-and-the-dawn-of-blockchain-privacy

About SKALE Labs

SKALE, the gas-free invisible Layer1 blockchain network, is “built different” to scale gaming, AI, social, and high-performance dApps to the masses. SKALE Chains are gas-free, fast, and EVM-compatible, making them ideal for a wide range of decentralized applications. With a commitment to driving the mass adoption of Web3 technologies, SKALE empowers developers and businesses to build scalable, efficient, and user-centric blockchain applications.

Harmonizing speed, security, and decentralization, SKALE Labs was born in Cali in 2017 by Jack O’Holleran and Stan Kladko, PhD. As of 2025, the network serves over 55 million unique active wallets and has saved users over $11 billion in gas fees.

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Cryptocurrency

Top Bitcoin (BTC) Predictions as the Price Approaches $100K

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TL;DR

  • Popular analysts see momentum building for a BTC breakout, with short-term targets ranging from $104.5K to $108K.
  • Positive net inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs and declining exchange balances signal strong investor confidence, but the RSI breached 70, which could be a precursor of an incoming correction.

What Are the Next Targets?

The primary cryptocurrency has been on a serious uptrend lately, with its price currently standing just south of the psychological mark of $100,000. That said, it’s hard to believe that nearly a month ago, it briefly tumbled below $75,000, but after all, such fluctuations are quite common in the crypto world. 

Bitcoin’s latest rally (and that of the entire digital asset market) was likely fueled by US President Donald Trump, who teased a “major trade deal” with a “respected country.” The price jump also came shortly after the FOMC meeting, during which the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at 4.25%- 4.50%. 

Bitcoin’s pump toward $100K has sparked fresh optimism among analysts, with many envisioning more room for growth in the short term. X user Rekt Capital thinks the asset needs to stay above $98,700 “for the retest of the week to position itself for a breakout towards $104.5K.” 

For their part, CRYPTOWZRD predicted that a push beyond $100,000 can trigger further upside pressure to as high as $108,000. 

“On the other hand, any geopolitical shift with China can cause extreme volatility, where $91,500 will be the main daily support target from a worsening situation,” they warned.

Crypto Yoddha and Merlijn The Trader also gave their two cents. The former believes BTC is about to break a long-term range high resistance, which could fuel an ascent towards a new ATH of roughly $140,000. 

Merlijn The Trader did not set an exact price target, simply forecasting that the asset “is ready to detonate.” He based the potential scenario on the “perfect rising channel” and “momentum building.”

The Signals From the Indicators

In addition to the bullish forecasts mentioned above, some important metrics hint that BTC’s rally is nowhere near its end.

Data compiled by SoSoValue shows that the daily total net inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs have been positive on most days in the past few weeks. This means that more capital is entering these funds than exiting, signaling growing investor confidence and the asset’s growing appeal as an investment choice.

On the other hand, BTC’s exchange netflow has been negative in the last several days, reflecting a shift from centralized platforms towards self-custody methods. This is generally considered a bullish factor since it reduces the immediate selling pressure. 

BTC Exchange Netflow
BTC Exchange Netflow, Source: CryptoQuant

Still, not all indicators suggest a continued upswing. The Relative Strength Index (RSI), which measures the speed and magnitude of the latest price changes, has surged past 70. Readings above that level are interpreted as bearish since they indicate the asset might have entered overbought territory and could be due for a pullback. 

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