Many factors influence the cryptocurrency markets. Apart from things like government regulations, investment cycles and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), another key factor influencing the market is the activities of the so-called “whales”.
These people call them “whales” because the whale is the largest creature in the ocean, so crypto whales are the biggest players in the market
The whales can be some individual investors, or they can be groups or companies such as hedge funds or trusts. Any party that has a lot of capital to invest in loopring price prediction can be considered a whale.
Famous cryptocurrency whales
Here are some of the most famous bitcoin whales that are individuals:
Nakamoto was the original creator of Bitcoin and is said to own approximately one million Bitcoins. While he could technically be considered a whale, it is unlikely that he will bring his BTC holdings to market, at least not all at once.
The Winklevoss twins are said to own hundreds of thousands of bitcoins. The twins bought BTC as an investment, so it is possible that they will sell their holdings at some point in the future.
For comparison, one hundred thousand BTC is currently valued at approximately $1,100,000,000. This makes Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (and Satoshi Nakamoto) Bitcoin billionaires.
Many other of the leading individual whales could also soon become Bitcoin billionaires if the price continues its upward trend.
In addition to well-known individual cryptocurrency whales, there are also a number of well-known whales that represent groups and companies. These groups also control a large amount of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and include:
The US government is a whale?
At some point, the US government was indeed the whale of the cryptocurrency. This is because they seized around 144,000 bitcoins from the illegal goods exchange site Silk Road.
The US government closed Silk Road because illegal goods such as drugs, weapons and ammunition sold there.
When the government shut down the site, they took control of around 144,000 BTC, which were soon sold. The government made about $48 million from the sale of these Bitcoins.
When the government sold off the BTC it had taken control of, the current market price of Bitcoin was only $334. If they had waited a few more years with the Fiat BTC cashout, the US government would have made billions of dollars, not just tens of millions.
Impact of whales on the market
Whale activity can have a big impact on the cryptocurrency markets, including individual cryptocurrency prices and market capitalization. Whales make deals; they often do so for tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.
When a large buy order is placed, it can raise the price of a particular cryptocurrency because it sends a signal to the market that a particular asset is in high demand.
When the whales create a massive sell order, the price can go in the exact opposite direction because it sends the opposite signal to the market and makes the asset look like it is unclaimed.
It is an estimation about 40% of all Bitcoins are owned by approximately 1,000 people. With so few people owning almost the majority of BTC, any significant buying or selling by these giant investors could tip the Bitcoin market in either direction.
Possibility of manipulation
There is a debate about manipulation in the cryptocurrency cartesi price prediction community, and there is a wide range of sentiments about it. Some people think that cryptocurrency manipulation is real, others think it’s not, and still, others think it could be real, but if it is, it doesn’t really matter.
In fact, the fluctuations in the price of cryptocurrencies are so strong that they make cryptocurrencies one of the most volatile assets in the entire world and, therefore, one of the riskiest to trade and invest.
Significance of price fluctuations caused by whales
Over its roughly 9-10 year history, Bitcoin has experienced huge price fluctuations.
Despite the dramatic “price crashes” that Bitcoin and other similar cryptocurrencies go through periodically, many of them seem to recover from them very quickly.
This seems to be the general pattern for cryptocurrencies: they suddenly go down and then quickly recover and surpass the value they had before.
The answer seems to be that these things can affect cryptocurrencies in the short term, but in the long term, cryptocurrencies tend to get rid of any such influence.
What about holding cryptocurrencies by whales?
Just as some whales love to make big trades to try and make short-term profits, others love to “walk” crypto, i.e. store it for the long term.
The Winklevoss twins are a perfect example of whales that love to walk. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have reported that they have not sold a single Bitcoin since they invested $11,000,000 in Bitcoin following a payout they received from Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook intellectual property theft lawsuit.
After all, the people who were willing to make fairly large investments in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. The early days are the people who most likely had a lot of faith in cryptocurrency.
People with this level of faith are likely to expect cryptocurrencies to be worth a lot more in the future. So why would they sell now when they could make millions or even billions of dollars more in the future?
When the whales walk around and don’t sell their coins. It reduces the total number of coins available for purchase on the market. This could put pressure on the cryptocurrency and push prices up.
The fewer cryptocurrencies available for trading, the more scarce they become. Scarcity is a factor that can drive prices up and is a big part of the reason. Why do assets like diamonds and gold have such high prices.
Essentially, whales holding large amounts of cryptocurrencies could be a contributing factor to the increase in crypto assets over time.
If there ever comes the point where many whales decide to sell all at once. It could cause a very serious downturn in the market. However, such an event will also create an opportunity for people to make a purchase.
Such an event may even create new whales.
Conclusion
Whales are an incredibly important part of the crypto environment. Their actions can cause prices to fluctuate up or down, which can cause a strong reaction in the market. Some whales make frequent transactions with a large number of coins. While many others simply accumulate as many cryptocurrencies as they can and hold them.
