1 December 2023
The attention of the crypto community has been drawn to a particular whale that has been accumulating Bitcoin for some time now. The magnitude of the whale’s holdings has left many wondering who it might be and the reason for the accumulation.
Bitcoin Whale Accumulates Over 10,000 BTC In November
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) platform, popular Bitcoin investor Lark Davis revealed details about the “mystery whale” who had been accumulating Bitcoin. Interestingly, the wallet (bc1qch) had accumulated over 10,000 BTC in November. On-chain data also showed that the wallet currently holds over 12,000 BTC ($460 million).
Following this revelation, many began to speculate on who the owner of the wallet was and the reason for such accumulation. Lark suggested that it could be institutional investors looking to “front-run the Spot Bitcoin ETF approval.” Some were of the opinion that it could be one of the Spot Bitcoin ETF filers who were preparing ahead of a possible approval.
Irrespective of who the owner was, many felt it was a good sign of things to come for the crypto market. That is because the accumulation showed that there was still a huge demand for the flagship cryptocurrency. One could have also inferred that the whale was possibly loading up their bags ahead of the bull run which some project is around the corner.
The bullish sentiment was also ignited by the fact that the wallet had not sent out any BTC since it began accumulation at the end of October. That instantly suggests that the whale was in it for the long term rather than looking to make quick profits.
BitMEX The Mystery Whale
The mystery around who the whale might be seems to have been resolved. The wallet is reported to belong to the crypto exchange BitMEX. The exchange is also said to have been simply moving its Bitcoin holdings to this new wallet, which forms part of the exchange’s cold wallet.
This is a real possibility, considering that some of the inflows into the wallet came from a particular BitMEX wallet (bc1qm). ZachXBT, a prominent blockchain investigator, also stated that the wallet belongs to the crypto exchange. He referred to an X post, which noted that the wallet address in question was included in BitMEX’s proof-of-reserves.
If so, then there isn’t so much meaning to read into the accumulation. It has become standard procedure for these exchanges to have proof of reserves as evidence of enough liquidity on their platform. These reserves are usually proportional to the users’ assets on the exchange.