Bitcoin Whale Transfers Over $6B Worth of BTC

The owner of the fifth-largest Bitcoin holding address, known as “37X,” has transferred over $6 billion worth of Bitcoin to three new addresses. This is the first time the Bitcoin whale has made a transfer since 2019. The transfer involved moving almost the entire balance of 94,500 Bitcoin, leaving only 1.4 BTC in the original address.

According to Arkham Intelligence, the transfer took place on March 23 and involved sending $5.03 billion worth of Bitcoin to one address, while two other addresses received $561.46 million and $488.40 million respectively. One of these addresses, bc1q592, has since forwarded the funds to another destination. This transfer occurred during a time of increased institutional interest in Bitcoin, which is being driven by the upcoming Bitcoin halving.

The Bitcoin halving is an event where the amount of new Bitcoin being created is cut in half. This reduction in block issuance rewards has attracted attention from institutional investors, despite the fact that the price of Bitcoin has already reached an all-time high. According to a co-founder of D8X decentralized exchange and former executive director at UBS, the market has not fully priced in the impact of the halving.

The transfer of over $6 billion worth of Bitcoin occurred just two days before Bitcoin reached the psychological price level of $70,000. This was the first time in 10 days that Bitcoin had reached this price point. During this time, investors have been accumulating Bitcoin off exchanges, causing the supply on Coinbase to reach a nine-year low.

As a result, the price of Bitcoin rose 6.4% in the 24 hours leading up to March 25, reaching $71,222. This increase in price is primarily driven by anticipation surrounding the halving and the inflow of institutional investors. The involvement of traditional financial institutions, such as BlackRock and Fidelity, in launching Bitcoin products is legitimizing cryptocurrency as an alternative asset class and reducing the hesitancy of some investors to enter the crypto market.

According to Dune, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) now hold a total of $58.3 billion in on-chain holdings, which represents 4.17% of the current BTC supply. This further underscores the growing interest in Bitcoin from institutional investors.