- A significant number of Bitcoin left Coinbase at the start of the weekend.
- The outflows are indicative of increasing institutional interest in the asset class.
- Whales are picking up the pace in recent days following Bitcoin’s dip.
Bitcoin whales are gobbling up as much as they can since Bitcoin fell below the $40K mark. The recent outflows of the asset from Coinbase are being construed as a pointer for institutional investors.
Coinbase’s Bitcoin Outflow
Leading US cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase has recorded a major outflow of BTC from the platform. According to CryptoQuant, Coinbase saw 30,000 BTC leave the exchange for cold wallets and custody wallets on Friday.
CryptoQuant’s CEO Ki-Young Ju took to Twitter to call the trend. “30K BTC flowed out from Coinbase today. Institutional buys might be the big narrative again because the Executive Order did not create any hurdle,” said Young.
He added that while institutional buyers may have moved assets to cold wallets, this figure is not significant. He states that the latest move was the movement of assets towards “Coinbase Custody wallets for OTC deals from institutions.”
Whale activity has been on a high since the passing of Biden’s executive order that offered a shining light at the end of the tunnel for cryptocurrencies. A Santiment report noted that in the last week, there has been a “continued steady supply of ~4,000 whale transactions exceeding $1M + Monday through Friday, with mild slowdowns on weekends,”
Whale activity picked up after Bitcoin lost over 10% of its value during the week to trade for less than $40,000. As retail investors dithered, whales spent an average of $1 million each day to increase their holdings of the asset class. Bitcoin currently trades at $40,460 and is down 5.40% in the last 7 days after enjoying highs of $48,086.
Bitcoin Whales
Bitcoin whales are accounts that hold at least $1 million worth of the asset. According to an Insider report, there are around 1,000 Bitcoin whales that comprise 40% of the market. Within this classification are mega whales and lesser whales. 13% of all Bitcoins in existence are held by a little over 100 whales with analysts noting the immense powers that these whales wield.
“The big layers can easily move the price,” said David Gerard, a crypto critic. “Because the bitcoin trading market is very thin, any one of them could crash it.”
The largest holders of the asset include Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy with over 120,000 Bitcoins, Tesla holds over $1.7 billion worth of BTC while Luna Foundation Guard has undertaken a spirited effort to catch up with the leaders after launching a buying spree.
