Big Whale Transactions Move $200 Million in BTC and ETH to Coinbase
In the span of a few hours on October 19th, 2023, three major whale transactions totaling nearly $200 million worth of crypto assets were made to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase.
According to whale monitoring service Whale Alert, the transactions consisted of:
- 2,818 BTC ($79.8 million) sent from an unknown wallet to Coinbase
- 2,785 BTC ($78.9 million) sent from another unknown wallet to Coinbase
- 22,374 ETH ($34.7 million) transferred from an unknown wallet to Coinbase
These large transactions come at a time when the crypto markets are seeing increased volatility and uncertainty. Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have fallen significantly from their highs in 2021.
There is speculation around why major holders are suddenly moving such large amounts of BTC and ETH onto exchanges like Coinbase. Some possibilities include:
- Preparing to sell – The whales may be planning to sell off their holdings, taking advantage of any minor bounce in prices. If they coordinate large sell orders, it could drive prices lower.
- Moving to exchanges for custody rather than cold storage – Some whales may prefer keeping holdings on secure exchanges versus private wallets during times of market turmoil.
- Accumulating funds on exchanges to buy dips – They could also be planning to buy any major dips across altcoins and smaller cap cryptocurrencies.
- Reinforcing exchange liquidity – The added liquidity helps ensure exchanges can process large sell orders without slippage in the event of panic selling.
Whatever the reasons may be, the series of transactions underscores how the moves by major individual holders can impact broader market sentiment and prices in cryptocurrencies. With the markets jittery, on-chain analytics provide useful clues into whales building up positions on exchanges.
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