Photo credit: Todd Cravens/Unsplash
A crypto whale wallet that had been dormant for six years suddenly awoken early June 28, transferring approximately $61.55 million to crypto exchange Coinbase.
Wallet address 12EMDoUhaNCuWZeeT6ey61AkjKyzmjV2m3 moved 1,000 Bitcoin (BTC) to Coinbase Pro, according to data tracked by Arkham Intelligence and Lookonchain. Data show that the BTC funds were acquired six years ago for $6.68 million.
This quarter has seen a rise in dormant Bitcoin wallets becoming active, transferring coins to exchanges. Just on June 27, Lookonchain identified a wallet linked to a BTC miner that had become active for the first time in 14 years, sending 50 BTC ($3.05 million) to Binance.
However, recent activities by long-term holders, paired with quicker liquidations by crypto miners, German government’s selling of coin holdings, and selling pressure from Mt. Gox creditors, has pushed prices lower by almost 9% in June.
Bitcoin trades at $61,451.15 at press time, up a measly 0.5% per CoinGecko data.
While the movement of funds from dormant crypto wallets to exchanges can indicate potential selling pressure, it’s not always the case. This activity could also be due to other reasons like consolidating holdings, participating in various crypto programs, or simply transferring funds.
This phenomenon made tracking the wallet movement of Bitcoin whales a popular way to speculate on market sentiment. This method, however, will not lead to “true alpha,” according to some traders.
In a June 15 X post, Glassnode lead analyst James Check said whale wallet movements don’t provide “useful information.”
“Not once have I seen true alpha extracted from whale watching. It’s good for social media, but is almost never serious nor valuable analysis,” he added.
Pseudonymous crypto analyst TXMC on the same thread cautioned against using whale metrics. They explained that whales selling large amounts of Bitcoin in a short period don’t always indicate a sell-off event.
“The mechanical stepwise drawdown here speaks to wallet management and you only [see] part of a larger pie. These are sometimes firms and institutions with multiple wallets and hundreds/thousands of clients,” they concluded.
Read more: Japan’s Metaplanet to buy $6M worth of Bitcoin, stock surges 12%