An extraordinary transfer of more than $100 million in Bitcoin has shaken the cryptocurrency space, just within this hour. As became known thanks to a report from Whale Alert, the transfer of 1,475 BTC took place between several wallets, previously unknown to the service, with two key addresses, “3QYQ6” and “3MqUP.”
Thus, the first address was the sender of the largest amount of coins, namely 1,205.93 BTC, which is equivalent to $82.3 million. The second address is the direct recipient of these coins.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 1,475 #BTC (100,339,951 USD) transferred from unknown wallet to unknown wallethttps://t.co/La4x9rEsUw
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) October 16, 2024
Meanwhile, according to Arkham Intelligence, wallets with these addresses belong to none other than the biggest crypto exchange in the United States, Coinbase.
According to on-chain data, funds have been moved from Coinbase Prime addresses to the exchange’s hot wallets. Coinbase Prime, for those who do not know, is a branch that serves crypto funds of institutional clients and other large legal entities.
When we try to trace where the $100 million in BTC came from, it turns out that two hours before this transfer, the deposit address was topped up with this amount from unknown wallet “3AjiY.”
Bad news?
At the same time, this unknown wallet, “3AjiY,” was funded from the account of Cumberland, a Chicago-based company that provides trading and management services in the crypto market for institutional clients.
Adding to the intrigue, the company was charged by the SEC less than a week ago for conducting unregistered cryptocurrency-related activities.
This begs the question: does this BTC belong to Cumberland itself, or to one of the company’s clients? And is the latest action an attempt to unload assets in the portfolio in the midst of an SEC investigation? The answers to these questions will be more important than ever for the future price of Bitcoin.