Whales Swim in BTC, ETH, LINK, and BNB, Says Santiment

Chain analysis company Santiment tweeted on Mar. 13 regarding their latest analysis of ‘whale’ transactions greater than $100,000. Santiment found that transactions involving whales were increasing over the long term. Moreover, such transactions still affected market volatility.

Whales on the Move

While Santiment focused on the number of whale moves, the quantity in such an event can be astounding. On Mar. 11, a Bitcoin whale moved 5,000 BTC from an address that had lain dormant for several years. That equaled $280 million at the market rate when the BeInCrypto article was published.

Moreover, on Jan. 27, someone moved 31,010 BTC from a wallet that was quiet for two years. At the market rate of the day, the amount of Bitcoin equaled nearly $1 billion. It was one of only 42 wallets known with that volume of BTC in it. The whale tracker BitInfoCharts shows that when the wallet was filled in 2018, the Bitcoin cost $202,000. The site also shows that transaction fees were about $5. Yes, five dollars. 

The owner of the wallet is unknown, as is the recipient. However, news that in January, Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin with the help of Coinbase, reached the market on Feb. 8.

What a Splash

The Tesla purchase did much more than the mysterious sale when it comes to the market. Bitcoin jumped over 10% on the news.

Corporate Whales

The effect of whales is well-known on the market, and corporate whales are market movers in particular. The effect of companies moving into Bitcoin is a feature of the current bull run, and definitely a factor in the rise of crypto in 2020. 

In August 2020, MicroStrategy made its first foray into cryptocurrency. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor became famous as a Bictoin bull because of his conviction that Bitcoin worked as a replacement for the US dollar in corporate treasuries.  Since then, companies such as Tesla have turned to Bitcoin in particular as a replacement for a devaluing US dollar. 

Graywhale

While corporations are bringing BTC into their treasuries, American investors still have regulatory issues with accessing crypto directly. MicroStrategy has become a proxy for owning BTC directly for some. For others, there is Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). GBTC is the largest publicly known holder of Bitcoin at the moment, with over $30 billion BTC under management as of the beginning of February. Grayscale bought Bitcoin equal to 150% of all the BTC mined in January.

Such whales serve an important function in the Bitcoin ecosystem. By keeping demand high, prices are supported. And whale watching can be fun!