Criminals profit over 5000% following reawakening of 10,000 Bitcoin

A crypto wallet belonging to a defunct Russian crypto exchange BTC-e moved 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) ($165 million) on Nov. 23 to two unidentified wallets.

Chainalysis reported on Nov. 23 that BTC-e had begun withdrawal from its wallet nearly a month ago. On Oct. 26, successors of the defunct exchange sent small amounts of Bitcoin to a Russian electronic payments service, Webmoney.

10,000 BTC Movement
Source: Chainalysis

The blockchain analytics firm added that BTC-e made a test payment on Nov. 11 before a further transfer of 100 Bitcoin to an exchange on Nov. 21.

“Of the total sent in the last several days, approximately 9,950 Bitcoin remain in personal wallets, while the rest was moved through a series of intermediaries to four deposit addresses at two large exchanges.”

Peckshield reported that the address involved in the transaction had received the 10,000 BTC in February 2014.

Meanwhile, CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju noted that 65 BTC was transferred to HitBTC and called on the exchange to suspend the account.

Criminals profit over 5000%

While one Twitter user wondered why the criminals did not attempt to sell the BTC when it traded at record highs during the bull run, Young Ju pointed out that they still made a 55-times profit from the trade.

According to Young Ju, the criminals got the Bitcoin when it traded for $297 in Jan 2015, but the asset is now trading for around $16,617, meaning their profit is nearly 5,594%.

Old Bitcoin movement increases sell pressure

The movement of this old Bitcoin could increase the selling pressure on an industry that has already reached a two-year low.

According to Young Ju, old Bitcoin movement is bearish in most cases because they are BTC minted in the lawless era and owned by individuals who can’t use KYC-compliant custodian services.

Meanwhile, CryptoQuant tweeted that BTC spent output between the 7 to 10 years old band has reached 10,000 –an 8-month high.

 

 

Posted In: Bitcoin, Analysis

Source: https://cryptoslate.com/criminals-profit-over-5000-following-reawakening-of-10000-bitcoin/