A bitcoin wallet, believed to be linked to Tether, the leading stablecoin issuer, has ascended to become the tenth largest holder of bitcoin. This elevation occurred after an accrual of 8,888 bitcoin from Bitfinex as the year concluded. Presently, the wallet’s holdings total around 66,465.20 bitcoin, with a value nearing $3 billion at existing exchange rates.
Bitcoin’s New Whale: Mystery Wallet Witnesses Year-End Windfall
In the last 72 hours, a wallet potentially linked to Tether has once again captured attention. Bitcoin.com News reported on this particular wallet on Aug. 5, 2023, noting its status as the 11th largest bitcoin wallet.
At that juncture, a 21.co research analyst posited that the wallet might be associated with Tether, correlating with the stablecoin issuer’s financial attestations. Tether had previously acknowledged holding bitcoin as part of its assets, yet it hadn’t publicly shared any specific wallet address.
After this initial report, Cryptoquant, a blockchain analytics firm, raised doubts about the wallet’s connection to Tether. 145 days later, on December 31, 2023, a significant sum of 8,888.88 BTC was transferred to the wallet, identified as “bc1qj.”
The bitcoin, like all previous deposits to this wallet since its creation, originated from Bitfinex. This consistent pattern of deposits from Bitfinex further fuels speculation that the wallet might be owned by Tether.
Now ranked as the tenth largest, the wallet surpasses the 11th largest, which possesses 59,300 BTC. Observers including Wu Blockchain and the X account The Data Nerd, noted the transfer of 8,888 BTC.
“On behalf of [the] new year, a whale (related to Tether) bought 8,888 BTC ($379M) at $42,641, 8 hours ago,” The Data Nerd wrote. “Someone is very hungry for BTC,” an individual replied to the X post.
Both X accounts have noted that the tenth largest bitcoin whale boasts unrealized profits exceeding a billion, with an average entry point of around $25K. Currently, Bitfinex, the exchange behind the 8,888 BTC transfer, also maintains the second-largest BTC wallet, valued at close to $10 billion.
This wallet, identified as “bc1qg“, contains roughly 210,010 BTC, equivalent to $9.43 billion at prevailing exchange rates. The last outward transaction from “bc1qg” occurred on March 3, 2023, and the cold wallet recently added 20,000 BTC to its reserves on Dec. 16, 2023.
Now the wallet that sent the funds to the tenth largest mystery wallet known as “1Kr6Q” has received a whopping 140,562,980 BTC since its creation seven years ago. The wallet has spent 140,562,190 BTC and today, at least at the time of publication, this address owned by Bitfinex is a hot wallet and it currently holds 790 BTC worth $35.69 million.
The rapid ascent of the tenth largest wallet, amidst swirling rumors and substantial transactions, underscores the secretive nature of large-scale bitcoin holdings. Without explicit verification from the firm itself, there remains no definitive way to confirm that this wallet is indeed owned by Tether.
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