The Twitter bot Whale Alert recently claimed that an anonymous user has moved a total of $1.1 billion in Bitcoin. This is the greatest fiat value transaction in Bitcoin’s history. His transaction charge was around $4 for this big move.
The money is alleged to have been moved in two distinct transactions, with Xapo serving as the bitcoin wallet for each. The initial transaction saw the anonymous user transferring 45,671 BTC worth around $602 million from a Xapo wallet to an unknown wallet address. The second transaction was similarly initiated from the Xapo wallet; the user sent 43,185 Bitcoin valued at around $570 million.
According to statistics from analytics site Blockchain.com, the most startling aspect for members of the bitcoin industry was this massive transaction performed by Xapo. Although we see huge transactions from this wallet, such as the recent 4000 and 5000 BTC transfers, this $1 billion transaction is far larger than those. Nevertheless, over 24000 BTC have been moved from this wallet since February.
In the previous year, Coinbase’s custodian subsidiary Coinbase Custody purchased Xapo’s institutional business. Coinbase is the world’s largest digital currency exchange. As a result, some feel that there is a strong possibility that this enormously startling sum originated from this large cryptocurrency exchange.
The previous greatest transaction in terms of fiat value was reportedly done by Bitfinex, a Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange, in April. According to the article, the cryptocurrency exchange moved up to 161,500 BTC with the user paying just $0.68 in transaction fees.
Although massive, none of these transactions can compare to the 550,000 BTC transaction performed on November 16th, 2011, by the Mt. Gox exchange. Given its value of $1.32 million at the time, it might be sold for more than $1 billion now. This is widely regarded as the largest transaction of Bitcoin ever made.
Who is this whale? Reach out to us on Twitter and let us know what you think.
