The Enigmatic Rise of the $3 Billion BTC Whale — Tracing the Mysterious Path of Bitcoin’s Third Largest Wallet

This week, various reports and social media discussions have centered around the third-largest bitcoin (BTC) wallet, a long-standing enigma that potentially maintains the same ownership despite changes in its address.

Billion-Dollar Mysteries: The Cryptic Evolution of Bitcoin’s Third-Largest Wallet

The mysterious bitcoin wallet has garnered attention as it rose to the third largest in a span of 98 days. The wallet, identified as “bc1ql,” currently holds 118,300.20 BTC as of August 22, 2023, amounting to approximately $3.07 billion based on current exchange rates. Notably, this third-largest BTC wallet has been shrouded in mystery for an extended duration, even amid changes to its address over recent years. For example, in November 2021, the “1P5ZE” address held the third position.

Much speculation surrounded this wallet; at one point it was erroneously attributed to Microstrategy’s bitcoin holdings. However, after 1P5ZE’s balance decreased to zero, another wallet — “1LQoW” — assumed the third-largest position in 2022. Boasting over 140,000 bitcoins in December 2022, this specific wallet shares transactional ties with both the infamous 1P5ZE whale and another address, “1FzWL.” Subsequent cluster analyses, heuristics, and deductions hinted at a possible change from 1P5ZE to 1LQoW.

When Bitcoin.com News covered 1P5ZE, a source with access to blockchain analytics tools (Chainalysis and Ciphertrace) informed our newsdesk that there is “an almost 100% chance that both addresses in your article, both 1P5ZE and 1FzWL, belong to Gemini.” Moreover, the latest address — bc1ql — is directly connected to the bitcoin address 1LQoW, insinuating that the enigmatic third-largest BTC address remains under identical ownership.

Chinese cryptocurrency journalist Colin ‘Wu Blockchain’ also posits that Gemini owns the new address. “Gemini has transferred bitcoins to the new address bc1q….59v2 in the past 3 months,” he reported. “It currently holds 118,000 bitcoins, or about 3.08 billion U.S. dollars. It is currently the third largest bitcoin holder. The first and second largest Bitcoin addresses are Binance Cold Wallet and Bitfinex Cold Wallet,” he added.

Speculation persists, with some suggesting that Blackrock could be preparing for its exchange-traded fund (ETF). Notably, Arkham Intelligence labels the address under Jump Trading Custody as Robinhood’s. On blockchain explorer oxt.me, onchain analyst “Ergo BTC” posited on May 24, 2023, whether “Jump [was] handing the keys to Robinhood.” Despite conjecture, Blackrock owning the wallet seems highly unlikely. The most probable scenarios link the wallet to either Gemini or Robinhood and indicate a strong connection to the previous third-largest wallets 1LQoW and 1P5ZE.

What do you think about the third-largest bitcoin wallet mystery? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.