Bitcoin Whales Making a Splash: Did 9 Transactions Valued at $236m Spark the Market?

By Darryn Pollock -  May 27, 2019


Over the weekend, seemingly for no real reason, Bitcoin took off sharply and started rising towards $9,000 after struggling to break through and stay above $8,000 in recent days and weeks.

However, preceding this, a Twitter account known as ‘Whale Alert’ started picking up some major movement on the Bitcoin network as a cumulation of about 9 transactions saw  27,029 BTC worth $236 million get moved.

Mostly the moves were between wallets, but one of the transfers was onto an exchange, which gives some interesting insight into what those with a lot of money are thinking at the moment. It also could once again show just how easy it is to manipulate the Bitcoin market with enough capital.  


Whale Alert

These nine transactions saw a huge amount of money moved in a short period of time, and because of their timing, it would be plausible to tie this market movement to the rise in price of the major cryptocurrency.


One massive Bitcoin holder in particular moved 15,000 BTC worth more than $119 million in a single transfer from one unknown wallet to another.

In those transactions, one of them saw 1,500 BTC moved onto Bitfinex. While it is unclear the reason for taking these funds onto an exchange, it could be very likely that the owner is looking to sell while the prices are again rising for the major cryptocurrency.

Market concerns
If these transactions across the wallets and onto an exchange had enough power to see the entire Bitcoin market – and its related cryptocurrency market – shift by as much as it did, it is actually quite concerning.
Regulators such as the SEC and others have noted that they are skeptical of the cryptocurrency space as it is still so nascent and new, and thus susceptible to market manipulation. This may not be malicious market manipulation, but, if nine transfers can cause a spike of nearly 10 percent, it is a big red flag.

Positivity abounds
Despite what the whales are doing, it is is noteworthy to see that these kinds of movements from big money movers are causing people to get excited rather than fearful. There has been an entire change in the market sentiment wherein that if that had happened at the peak of the bear market, it could well have caused a sell off.