Whale alert — crypto user moves $1.1B in Bitcoin

With Bitcoin's price continuing to hold close to $13,000, one crypto wallet has moved more than $1 billion of the digital asset.

According to on-chain data, a Bitcoin (BTC) wallet holder moved more than 88,857 BTC — worth roughly $1.15 billion — for a fee of only 0.00027847 BTC, or $3.58 at time of publication. The coins were confirmed in block 654,364 on Oct. 26. 

Data from analytics platform CrystalBlockchain appears to show that the user sent the coins from an address labeled as a Xapo Bitcoin wallet. Because Coinbase Custody acquired Xapo’s institutional business in 2019, it is possible that the $1.1 billion in Bitcoin originated from the U.S.-based exchange.

This transaction is the largest movement of any cryptocurrency by fiat value, with the Bitfinex exchange setting the previous record in April. It transferred 161,500 BTC — $1.1 billion at the time — for a fee of only $0.68.

Neither of these transactions were actually the largest amount of Bitcoin to ever be moved. That honor goes to a 550,000 BTC transaction made on November 16, 2011 by the Mt. Gox exchange. Worth $1.32 million at that time, that amount of Bitcoin could be liquidated for more than $7 billion today.