Whales
Bitcoin Whales are considered market players with significant funds that are able to move the cryptocurrency market. The large players being referred to are institutions such as Hedge Funds and Bitcoin Investment Funds. Some of these funds have announced their presence in the water.
The term “whale” is frequently used to describe the big money Bitcoin players that show their hand in the Bitcoin market. The ocean as a metaphor for the market is apt, since one can then extend it to include the big fish and the small fish; sharks; rallies as feeding frenzies; waves as market moves; and so forth. It may be, however, that the term “whale” has been applied to the wrong class of investor because the players described below are truly the biggest creatures in the ocean.
What is a Bitcoin whale?
The emergence of cryptocurrencies and the trading of this new asset class has created a bunch of slang words, that are especially used in social media sites such as Reddit. Besides the very popular expression hodl, the term whales is another slang word used in cryptocurrency trading. When markets are highly volatile big players, referred as whales, are usually considered as the source behind the market volatility. The analogy to the size of the whale, the biggest animal of the ocean, is the explanation for the use of this expression in such events. Hence a whale is a market actor that trades with significantly more money than the average investor, and is therefore able to move the price of cryptocurrencies.
The most noticeable Bitcoin whales:
- Pantera Capital
- Bitcoins Reserve
- Binary Financial
- Coin Capital Partners
- Falcon Global Capital
- Fortress
- Bitcoin Investment Trust
- Global Advisors Bitcoin Investment Fund
These funds typically manage hundreds of thousands of bitcoins, which they strategically and covertly put through the exchanges via special arrangement – out of sight and obscured from regular retail traders.
With their large capital mass, institutions can move the market at will. It is here where the metaphor of a Bitcoin Whale comes into its own because any other inhabitant of the ocean must simply get out of the way, or be moved forcefully. Additionally, no current is strong enough to deflect the whale from its course, so its intention becomes the way.
Market Manipulation
Whales are often criticized for manipulating the price of a certain coin in order to later on sell it higher or buy it cheap. Various coins such as NEO or Vechain were already affected by this trading behaviour of large market actors.. Bitcoin whales are a very important part of the market. It is the mass movements of their coins that can have a huge impact on the price of BTC. There are even Telegram channel created by Bitcoin Whales.
Crypto Whales News
Nobuaki Kobayashi is an attorney from Tokyo, who also just happens to be the bankruptcy trustee for the no-longer-operational Mt. Gox — the Tokyo-based exchange which filed for bankruptcy protection after losing 850,000 Bitcoins.
On Wednesday, Kobayashi disclosed that he has sold off roughly $400 million worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). He claims the process began last September — which also happens to be when the cryptocurrency market really started to heat up.
Kobayashi is still holding another $1.9 billion worth of Bitcoins and Bitcoin Cash, which he is also considering selling in an effort to pay off Mt. Gox’s creditors. For reference, that means Kobayashi still holds roughly 179,245.37 BTC — though that may be unevenly divided with Bitcoin’s unwanted step-brother, Bcash.