On September 6 at 3 am UTC, 94,504 BTC which translates to over 1 billion dollars ($1.018,147,922 at press time) was transferred from 15 unknown addresses to a single address, also unknown. The recipient of these bitcoins is now the fifth richest bitcoin wallet. Also, more than half of the bitcoin moved (around 52,922.24) came from one BTC address.
The news of this enormous BTC transfer was publicized by Whale Alert, a twitter account that tracks large cryptocurrency transactions from and to exchanges. As per Whale Alert, the bitcoins were not moved to any known cryptocurrency exchange. This means the transferee wallet is now the largest wallet that has no association with an exchange.
However, what caught the attention of the crypto community is the insane amount of fees that was paid for this transaction – about $700. Presumably, the parties involved in this transaction wanted it processed very fast.
The Jury Is Still Out On Why The Huge Transfer Was Made
No individual or company has publicly claimed the wallet, prompting a guessing game from the crypto community of possible explanations for the huge transfer.
The most popular theory pointed to Bakkt which started offering its bitcoin custody services, the Bakkt Warehouse, today. As ZyCrypto reported, Bakkt begins taking clients deposits today in readiness for its bitcoin futures trading slated for September 23.
Another guess making rounds is that controversial Craig Wright, Bitcoin SV creator, made the transfer to Kleiman estate as ordered by Judge Bruce E.Reinhart. One twitter user, Remi Goomba, posited this theory in response to Whale Alert’s tweet.
Or perhaps, it could imply that a bitcoin HODLer was consolidating his bitcoin holdings, or transferring it for safety purposes.
Here’s What Crypto Analysts Had To Say About The Transfer
Bitcoin enthusiasts and analysts alike expressed concern about this mammoth transfer, mainly because such a large amount of bitcoin can cause either a price surge or a drop if it gets to a cryptocurrency exchange.
Crypto analyst-cum-trader Alex Kruger indicated that the whales are back and urged the whale in question to “go 2x with this”, probably the 2x price move that fellow analyst Josh Rager mentioned. According to Rager, the current market structure bears a strong resemblance to the 2016-2017 bull market hence, bitcoin price could double in the near-term if it follows the same pattern.
Max Keiser, Keiser Report journalist and bitcoin bull suggested that the giant transfer was by Bakkt, citing an article by the news outlet, The Block. He further explained that institutions buy BTC dips:
“Institutions building inventory for their market-making needs going forward. This = effective ‘put’ on the BTC price at $9,000 (as I’ve been reporting for several yrs now). Ie, institutions are net-buyers of any BTC that shows up at $9k. Risk/reward now for buyers is excellent.”
While the reason for this $1 billion BTC transfer remains unclear, one thing is certain: the market is about to skyrocket! Or maybe plunge. Then again, bulls seem to be at the wheel at press time, gearing to push the price above $11,000. BTC is trading at $10,844.02 with 3.8% gains on the day according to data from CoinGecko.
