Bitcoin Whale Moves $535 Million After Over 5 Years Of Dormancy

An unknown entity transferred Bitcoin worth approximately $535 million to crypto exchange Binance on June 11 after five and a half years of inactivity.

Blockchain data indicated that the whale has made around $505 million in profit on its investment of 8,000 BTC. The whale had purchased all 8,000 BTC for just over $30 million in December 2018—after which the wallet lay dormant until yesterday.

Interestingly, all major BTC inflows in the wallet indicate that the whale had likely bought Bitcoin during the 2018 crash, as the BTC price at the time of transfer stood at approximately $3,800.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $69,240 after having dropped as low as $66,207 in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.

On June 11, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows to the tune of $200 million ahead of the FOMC meeting and CPI report.

Bitcoin miners selling holdings

The wallet could potentially belong to a Bitcoin miner, as there has been an upswing in miners selling their Bitcoin holdings to either cover their expenses, or to book profit.

Julio Moreno, Head of Research at CryptoQuant, noted that miners are finally capitulating, as they are selling their BTC holdings via Over-The-Counter (OTC) deals. In a post on Twitter, Moreno pointed out that “yesterday we saw the largest daily miner selling volume since late March,” with 1,200 BTC sold. “These are Bitcoin being sold OTC, not in exchanges.” Moreno added.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju backed up Monreno’s finding, noting that Marathon Digital, the largest Bitcoin mining firm, sold approximately 1,000 BTC to cover its expenses. This sparked the volume on OTC desks to their highest level since late March.

Marathon Digital’s stock price is down 13.52% since the start of the year. But yesterday it saw a minor uptick, as the stock ended 1.9% higher in yesterday’s trading session.