At the beginning of the year, Bitcoin’s downward trend seemed to freeze all hopes of a positive future for the cryptocurrency. The hype finally died down and left a bear market.
After the first week of 2018, Bitcoin’s value dropped below the $6,000 mark, which sounded the alarm bells for many investors. However, this dip came after its value had peaked at $19,600 in December 2017. This affected not only the average investors but also some of the biggest Bitcoin accounts known as the “whales”.
Weathering the Storm
Whales always have the means to remain big or even to grow bigger thanks to their enormous portfolios. The survival mechanism used by these account holders is, as always, selling when prices are up and buying when prices are down.
By selling when prices are up, these accounts profit by a large margin that is continuously reinvested in case the market slows down.
According to some studies, back when Bitcoin took a 65% loss, one hundred of the biggest account didn’t lose any money. In fact, they managed to gain a significant amount of Bitcoin and their influence on the market is clear.
A widely accepted notion is that 1000 of the biggest accounts hold about 40% of all Bitcoin. However, this idea was thrown out by a recent study which concluded that a single investor is not necessarily only associated with a single portfolio.
Leading the Charge
Among the “whales”, the biggest account holder is known as 16rCmCmbuWDhPjWTrpQGaU3EPdZF7MTdUk. With an estimated fortune of 167,000 Bitcoins, this address started their operations back in 2016 with a small investment of only $840. Today, this fortune has grown to an astounding $1.4 billion dollars’ worth of BTC.
As a wise investor, this account has managed to properly take advantage of Bitcoin’s 6 major dips that took place throughout 2017.
Ranking the Biggest Portfolios
After positive signs from South Korea and convinced that Bitcoin was resuming its course, another account known as 3Cbq7aT1tY8kMxWLbitaG7yT6bPbKChq64 sold off 41,000 BTC and increased its total account to an impressive 96,000 BTC. This made it the 3rd biggest Bitcoin account with an estimated value of $900 million US (assuming a BTC is worth $9,200).
Allegations of Collusion
There are several theories floating around that assume there is some collusion between companies who invest in Bitcoin. While many investors believe that there has been insider trading taking place amongst the 100 biggest accounts, studies have shown that this is rather difficult to prove due to the complexity of the situation.
The bigger the account, the more weight it has on the market.
Collusion between the “whales” can have a detrimental effect on the decentralization of cryptocurrency. And, if these accounts are not careful, they could cause too many tokens to be in one single account, which could condemn the entire market since only a flowing market can sustain a currency.
