Mystery Bitcoin Whale Moves $6 Billion in BTC to Three New Addresses
The fifth richest Bitcoin (BTC) whale has moved a staggering $6 billion worth of BTC to three new addresses over the weekend.
Key highlights:
- The fifth richest Bitcoin address moved 94,500 BTC ($6.05 billion) to three new addresses.
- The funds had been sitting unmoved in the address since 2019.
- The wallet now holds just 1.4 BTC ($99,000) after the transfer.
- The funds were initially split into two amounts, then further divided and moved to three wallets.
- Most large Bitcoin addresses are associated with exchanges, but this wallet shows no signs of exchange-related activity.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham’s data shows that 94,500 BTC ($6.05 billion) funded the address in 2019 and left it dormant until the recent transfer. Initially, they split the funds into two amounts and sent them to two different wallets.
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The whale then moved one of these funds to a new wallet and split the other into two more wallets. Three wallets now distribute the funds, with one holding $5 billion in BTC and the remaining balance roughly divided between the other two.
Bitcoin transfer raises speculation about the identity
The transfer has sparked speculation about the identity of the wallet’s owner. This is because most large Bitcoin addresses are typically associated with exchanges. However, this wallet exhibits minimal interactions and shows no indications of being associated with an exchange.
Miguel Morel, CEO of Arkham, commented on the unusual nature of the transfer, stating, “That’s a long time to not reconfigure/move around your customer’s cold storage… most of the time there’s some indication of exchange-related activity.”
This significant Bitcoin wallet movement is the first notable one in recent months. In January, someone sent 26.9 BTC (worth $1.2 million at the time) from Binance to the Bitcoin network’s Genesis wallet, which they won’t be able to retrieve.
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Prior to that, in November 2023, three bitcoin whale addresses that had been dormant since November 2017 transferred 6,500 BTC ($230 million at the time) to new addresses.
The motive of the whale movement amidst the recent rise in Bitcoin above $70,000 remains unclear. Nevertheless, the curiosity will remain hovering around the crypto community for quite some time before it fades away like the other previous whale movements.
