Whale Moves $1.3 Billion in Bitcoin… The Question Is Why?

As Bitcoin continues to hold above $9,800, one whale decided now was the time to move more than $1 billion in BTC.

According to blockchain data, an unknown Bitcoin (BTC) trader moved over 132,255 BTC — roughly $1.3 billion — in three transactions just one minute apart on June 11. The cryptocurrency was moved in block 643,133. 

The transactions came as the price of BTC was still under a key resistance level, $10,000. At the time of writing, 1 BTC is valued at $9,887.

The massive volume led to speculation the BTC belonged to an exchange or custodial service with one user on Reddit speculating Coinbase Custody was responsible. 

Still not the highest BTC transaction 

Cointelegraph reported in April that crypto exchange Bitfinex had moved 161,500 BTC, or $1.1 billion at the time, making it the largest single transaction of Bitcoin in history. 

However, neither Bitfinex’s or this whale’s transaction were actually the largest amount of the cryptocurrency to ever be moved. That honor goes to a 550,000 BTC transaction made on November 16, 2011. Worth $1.32 million at that time, that amount of Bitcoin could be liquidated for approximately $4.9 billion today.