Bitcoin Whale Moved $1 Billion, But Who Was It?

Another “whale” transaction went smoothly through the Bitcoin blockchain, this time moving $1 billion in value in a single transfer.

Big Transfer Coincided with Spectacular Market Rally

The move happened just as bitcoin was going through another rally, battling out the $8,700 resistance level. Blockchain analysis discovered the transfer happened between cold wallets belonging to the Bitfinex exchange.

The transfer also coincided with one of the most spectacular moves of Bitcoin SV (BSV), which kept breaking price records in the past day. At that time, ByteTree noted the transaction, sparking a Reddit discussion on its origins and goals.

Big fund transfers usually cluster around significant bitcoin price moves. Bitfinex remains one of the biggest BTC holders, despite the diminished influence of the exchange. Whale transactions of this size usually happen once every few months, with large-scale transfers noted twice in 2019.

But the size of this transaction is still relatively small to last December’s feat, when $8.9 billion in value were moved within three bitcoin blocks. BTC transactions remain relatively unchanged at around 300,000 per day, but value size varies, as whales may prepare for trading activity, or simply switch hot wallets.

Whales Prepare to Sway Bitcoin Prices?

In the past few days, mid-range transactions to and from exchanges once again caused speculation on whether the whales also intended to perform trading moves.

#Whales what is your next move? 🐋

Current #BTC price is $8675 and volatility is #Rampant. I feel a dip below $8400 or a push to $9000 is inbound, which way I dont know 😂 so I am out for safety

Closed my longs looking for a new #Safe entry#Bitcoin #Futures #Crypto pic.twitter.com/8erLAtZQEr

— Elliott Gunn Ⓥ (@ElliottGunn50) January 15, 2020

Bitcoin remains more volatile than usual, with expected relatively larger price moves up or down. Additionally, stablecoin transfers are also accelerating, in the range of a few million. Stablecoins boost spot trading, and may work toward higher liquidity.

But the recent whale activity also caused mild congestion, as more funds were moved to Coinbase, leading to increased trading load.

Little whale pump and coinbase down, people screaming that we gonna moon, XRP 3 cents up … Calm down people, tomorrow -10% again… and we are back where we started #btc #xrp

— 👑 XRP Queen 👑 (@xippix_xrp) January 14, 2020

The Bitcoin rich list shows that beyond exchanges, coin ownership has created various sizes of large-scale stashes. Wallets with 1,000 BTC have grown, as well as stashes above 10,000 BTC, and BTC is more democratic in comparison to altcoins and tokens.

The Reddit discussion, however, raised the question on the potential to control vast wealth in case BTC becomes more widely accepted. BTC is censorship-resistant, and the capability of moving large-scale sums through the network means wealth can be controlled by malicious actors as well.

So far, the blockchain has been scrutinized and a handful of addresses are known, but BTC can also be used to concentrate wealth in the hands of oppressive regimes, or finance terrorism. For that reason, whale transactions and spikes in activity invite attention.

How long do you think this crypto rally will continue? Add your thoughts below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @xippix_xrp @ElliottGunn50