KEY POINTS
- One whale moved $231 million worth of Bitcoins to the Kraken exchange
- BTC added $5,000 after resisting to climb the $66,000-mark for days
- Whales have been moving in recent weeks, including accounts that lay dormant for decades
Some of the world's largest holders of Bitcoin have started moving once more after the world's top digital asset hit $71,000. This comes following weeks of a price winter that kicked off after the BTC halving in April.
Bitcoin, the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency, opened at $66,200 on Monday and then closed at $71,400, marking a significant $5,000 jump in the digital coin that saw a beating after the halving event that reduced the circulation of new BTC into the market.
Interestingly, the Bitcoin price rally comes as the crypto industry has shown optimism over potential progress in efforts to get the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve spot Ether (ETH) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The regulator has a May 23 deadline for making a decision on VanEck's spot ETH ETF application.
Whales, some of the largest crypto holders in the world, are also on the move, sparking interest among other digital asset enthusiasts and users.
According to Whale Alert, which monitors the digital wallet transactions of various crypto whales, three BTC whales moved over $500 million worth of the digital currency in the last 24 hours.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 2,000 #BTC (135,271,706 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallethttps://t.co/wRBhGUWmN4
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 20, 2024
The first whale moved 2,000 BTC worth over $135.2 million from an unidentified wallet to another unknown digital wallet. The second whale moved a total of 3,000 BTC worth over $208.9 million across unknown wallets, and the third Bitcoin whale moved 3,250 BTC worth over $231.4 million to the Kraken crypto exchange.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 3,000 #BTC (208,979,380 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallethttps://t.co/u7fc2hf1g3
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 20, 2024
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 3,250 #BTC (231,448,487 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to #Krakenhttps://t.co/4vNsBjY4IA
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 21, 2024
A similar movement by Bitcoin whales came last week, after the digital token hit $66,000 following several days of stubbornly sticking to $62,000. At the time, the BTC whales moved a collective $1 billion worth of the digital asset within just 24 hours.
Large BTC holders have noticeably started moving since the halving that forced the coin to be in a stagnant state at around $60,000 and $61,000. Despite Bitcoin's struggles to climb higher, the movement of BTC whales has at least kept the community busy.
For one, whales have been "buying the dip" as smaller retail investors have been selling their holdings amid fears that the digital asset will drop further. Also, several "dormant" whale accounts have awakened after years of no activity, reinvigorating a community that has been focused largely on price action.
A significant dormant whale awakening came in the form of a whale wallet that stayed dormant for 10 years and three months, as per Whale Alert. The address, which held over $43.8 million worth of BTC, was activated earlier this month, when Bitcoin prices were well below 70,000.
It remains to be seen how the latest whale movements will affect prices, but as of writing, the world's largest crypto by market value was trading between $70,000 and $71,000.
