A bitcoin whale has moved a massive $4.5 billion in bitcoin during the flagship cryptocurrency’s sell-off this weekend, which saw the price of bitcoin drop from $55,000 to a $43,000 low before recovering.
According to blockchain data, the bitcoin whale moved 103,510 BTC, worth over $4.5 billion, for a fee of around $21 at the time. The transaction was first spotted by automated large transaction monitoring service BTC Block Bot, which posted about it on social media.
The large transaction dwarfs other large ones seen recently, including one of88,857 BTC made in October, at the time worth $1.1 billion. That transaction was then regarded as the largest dollar value BTC transaction ever made.
Most blockchain explorers that tag bitcoin addresses show that the popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex was behind the large transaction, moving funds from a cold wallet where it keeps user funds. The transaction, as such, could be part of a routine security procedure, for example.
Bitfinex has not released any statements regarding the large transaction, but it is known for moving large amounts of funds on a regular basis, presumably to improve its security and cold storage strategy. Bitfinex’s cold wallet remains one of the largest BTC wallets on record, with 98,511 BTC in it.
Bitcoin whales have a significant influence on the market, so much so that popular on-chain analyst Willy Woo recently revealed he believes bitcoin’s recent price correction was caused by a billion-dollar whale transfer. In an interview, Woo noted that an internal transaction from Gemini seemingly triggered the sell-off, saying:
I was trying to figure out this big sell-off. And, you know, the very peak of it started when there was a little alert that we had $1.5 billion that just moved onto the exchanges to sell… the assumption was to sell. And I think that spread amongst traders and we started to see the sell-off preempting that.
The analyst pointed out the correction “killed” bitcoin’s bullish momentum on its run to an all-time high of $58,000. Despite their influence on the market, such large transactions prove bitcoin’s use case as a store of value and an alternative currency. Moving $4.5 billion through the traditional financial system would cost well over $21.
Featured image via Pixabay.
