Bitfinex sets record with titanic $4.5B and $5B BTC transactions

[tikker]

Summary

Not long ago we had the largest ETH block ever mined at 112 ETH. Now over the past two weeks the two largest dollar-value Bitcoin transactions ever have taken place. On February 16, 111510.98701800 BTC worth a gargantuan $5,421,036,479.76 was transferred. Shortly after, on February 27, they broke the bank again and transfered 103510.98595300 BTC worth $4,903,135,835.33. Transaction fees were $19.10 and $24.55, respectively. Both dwarf earlier biggest transfers around the $1.1B mark. Both transfers come from (and to? not used to reading blockchain much yet) a cold wallet owned by Bitfinex which still holds over 90 000 BTC even after these massive transfers.

 

Quotes

Quote

A look at the sending address involved in Saturday’s transaction shows the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex is behind the transfer. According to Bitinfocharts, the address is a cold wallet owned by the cryptocurrency exchange.

 

Although the exchange has not released a statement on the transaction, it has a history of moving large amounts of BTC on a fairly regular basis.

 

Quote

According to Bitaps. a crypto analytic tracker, a large crypto entity moved $5.57 billion (111, 511 BTC ) for a fee of just $18. This is the biggest transfer seen on the blockchain by any entity to date.

 

My thoughts

These are no longer whales. This is the kraken. I guess it being an exchange makes it a little less "special", but how often do you get to transfer billions huh? Perhaps they are related to recent buys of Tesla's $1.5B and MicroStrategy's $1B in BTC? Or maybe to just top off their exchange for all the hodlers hungry for more coin. Who knows, they probably won't tell us. Nontheless it must have been nervewrecking to click "transfer". I'd spend the entire day confirming the addresses over and over again.

 

I'm sure this would be possible with banks as well, and at a first glance the fees of my local bank wouldn't be much more than the transaction fees mentioned here, not to mention that the average person will never see transactions even close to this, but I still feel it's pretty amazing and at the same time terrifying how easy it is to transfer such an incomprehensible amount of money so easily, such little money and without an intervening party. I find a certain beauty in this being just out there in the public as well.

 

Sources

https://dailyhodl.com/2021/03/01/whale-alert-4500000000-in-bitcoin-moved-in-historic-transfer-heres-whos-behind-the-curtain/

https://nairametrics.com/2021/02/17/big-whale-makes-biggest-bitcoin-transfer-worth-5-6-billion-for-just-18/

 

$5.4B transaction: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/4e89cf0cbd333d09b95208cdfc85b26b8922db14794d303ec437d8b9c7749699

$4.5B transaction: https://www.blockchain.com/btc/tx/cf0b2facde94c77538e6051ce42e823e4b10ecf00ee0f85c72913f69634d9093

https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/bc1qgdjqv0av3q56jvd82tkdjpy7gdp9ut8tlqmgrpmv24sq90ecnvqqjwvw97

 

[schwellmo92]

1 hour ago, tikker said:

Or maybe to just top off their exchange for all the hodlers hungry for more coin.

Unlikely, this will just be transactions to/within cold storage wallets. There is no way they would keep $5b worth of BTC in their hot wallets, most likely they will only have single digit millions in their hot wallets.

[COTG]

probably just cold wallet rebalancing. still though, proves a great point about BTC utility as an asset class with near instant finality and relatively tiny transaction fees. 

[Nathanpete]

For a while I thought this was talking about BitFenix, the case manufacturer, and not BitFinex (swap the I and E), a cryptocurrency exchange that I had never heard of, but that is because I don't follow the crypto market whatsoever. 

[yian88]

I hope they manage to ban and crackdown on crypto globally, it has no value other than scamming amateur investors, and producing massive ammounts of CO2.

[Orcblood]

23 minutes ago, yian88 said:

I hope they manage to ban and crackdown on crypto globally, it has no value other than scamming amateur investors, and producing massive ammounts of CO2.

I hope they continue to allow it. Fa'k the big banks. Let's take control out of their hand. 

[BuckGup]

39 minutes ago, yian88 said:

I hope they manage to ban and crackdown on crypto globally, it has no value other than scamming amateur investors, and producing massive ammounts of CO2.

Instead of spreading misinformation I suggest educating yourself on the subject first then commenting something

[schwellmo92]

33 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Instead of spreading misinformation I suggest educating yourself on the subject first then commenting something

Not wrong about the pollution though, crypto is a joke when it comes to its environmental impact.

[tikker]

1 minute ago, schwellmo92 said:

Not wrong about the pollution though, crypto is a joke when it comes to its environmental impact.

That completely depends on how the energy is produced though. A mining farm running on electricity wind or hydro power is a lot less polluting than one that runs on electricity from coal powered power plants.

[Moonzy]

1 hour ago, yian88 said:

it has no value other than scamming amateur investors

If scamming means giving me $2000-3000 a month, please continue scamming me

 

So I get more money to buy more GPU, causing less gamers to produce co2 while wasting their time.

Saving gamers, one GPU at a time.

 

I enjoy the rage and chaos, because all the reasoning I've seen so far are bullshit, just like yours

[BuckGup]

2 hours ago, schwellmo92 said:

Not wrong about the pollution though, crypto is a joke when it comes to its environmental impact.

I need some evidence to support this. I have yet to find or have someone show me solid evidence other than the fact it relatively uses a lot of power. As the high end estimates still are dwarfed by much more wasteful practices that contribute less to society 

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

3 hours ago, yian88 said:

I hope they manage to ban and crackdown on crypto globally, it has no value other than scamming amateur investors, and producing massive ammounts of CO2.

kinda sadistic isn't it? if the value is already mined with the cost of Co2, won't it be worth spending and redistributing it rather then wasting electricity for no reason? 

[tikker]

Just now, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

kinda sadistic isn't it? if the value is already mined with the cost of Co2, won't it be worth spending and redistributing it rather then wasting electricity for no reason? 

Except mining is people spending it and redistributing it. You bundle up a bunch of transactions to add to the block chain, then you start guessing numbers until you find the correct one and you add your block to the chain. No transactions would mean nothing to mine and no miners would mean no transaction would go through.

[Stormseeker9]

I’m not anti crypto, not a believer either.

 

its quite simple.

 

what difference does euro, dollars, yen have to crypto? It really are numbers on an online webpage (app etc) 

 

governments will introduce their own digital currency and that’s the end of that. 99% of alt coins become worthless. 
 

only coin I might see to hold value, because of the market, what they want it to be, is btc.

 

if eth 2.0 works, brings scalability + not extortionate gas fees like now, definitely one to stay too. 
 

[tikker]

29 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

what difference does euro, dollars, yen have to crypto? It really are numbers on an online webpage (app etc) 

Decentralisation for one.

29 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

governments will introduce their own digital currency and that’s the end of that. 99% of alt coins become worthless.

See this is what I don't see happening. Very few alts already make it, because there is more to a cryptocoin than just being a cryptocoin. Because effectively a digital euro isn't different from the regular euro I don't see it devalueing or ending crypto. The digital euro is almost the complete opposite of what crypto wants to be. It's even more centralised than fiat almost as there'd be only a single bank, the ECB.

32 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

only coin I might see to hold value, because of the market, what they want it to be, is btc.

 

if eth 2.0 works, brings scalability + not extortionate gas fees like now, definitely one to stay too. 

I think Ethereum is here to stay. Bitcoin is becoming more akin to gold. It can still do what it was intended for, but functionality wise it's outperformed by pretty much everything else.

[Sauron]

Still trying to figure out why this isn't taxed yet.

31 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

what difference does euro, dollars, yen have to crypto?

See above. Also you can actually use those to buy things.

32 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

only coin I might see to hold value, because of the market, what they want it to be, is btc.

BTC is completely useless as a currency, it only has value due to wild speculation.

1 hour ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

kinda sadistic isn't it? if the value is already mined with the cost of Co2, won't it be worth spending and redistributing it rather then wasting electricity for no reason? 

No, because the "cost" of CO2 production isn't something you can compensate with money. A BTC has no intrinsic worth or utility, it's a number that has no value outside of investment.

 

Also sunken cost fallacy. We could always just stop. With every crash BTC just burns more real money that might actually be useful. Not to mention it's not like any of it is being "redistributed".

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

No, because the "cost" of CO2 production isn't something you can compensate with money. A BTC has no intrinsic worth or utility, it's a number that has no value outside of investment.

if its a form of currency that someone can make purchase that someone else can gain money because of the purchase and then that person spends that money to buy groceries or essentials for his/her family that pays tax, yeah... i can go on but its far from inconsequential, at the end of the day the money is being spent somewhere and it ends up in the system, wasting all that becasue you are being petty is really lame, i don't even care about BTC but i rather use it than put it into a ether after spending so much energy by mining it, 

[Stormseeker9]

3 hours ago, tikker said:

Decentralisation for one.

See this is what I don't see happening. Very few alts already make it, because there is more to a cryptocoin than just being a cryptocoin. Because effectively a digital euro isn't different from the regular euro I don't see it devalueing or ending crypto. The digital euro is almost the complete opposite of what crypto wants to be. It's even more centralised than fiat almost as there'd be only a single bank, the ECB.

I think Ethereum is here to stay. Bitcoin is becoming more akin to gold. It can still do what it was intended for, but functionality wise it's outperformed by pretty much everything else.

What government will actually allow decentralisation ? 
 

cmon guys.. be realistic.

 

btc, at the most, might become a store of value (I don’t agree with this) for the rich. What fucking store or value has 50% swings.. 

 

and because an euro or dollar (as you say as well) pretty much is a digital thing.. why could it not be a ‘crypto’... if people truly want to believe that one day doge coin or whatever other meme stock will moon.. are delusional. The only thing staying (forever) will be blockchain technology. In whatever way it may be implemented 

[Stormseeker9]

3 hours ago, Fooshi said:

It's only a CO2 sink if it's a terribly inefficient one like Bitcoin. Nano is a very nice alternative that doesn't have those problems. 

My guy.. Mongolia banning crypto farming from April onwards. Let that sink in.

[Kisai]

Just now, Stormseeker9 said:

What government will actually allow decentralisation ? 
 

cmon guys.. be realistic.

 

btc, at the most, might become a store of value (I don’t agree with this) for the rich. What fucking store or value has 50% swings.. 

 

Bitcoin is quite literately doing what everyone knew would happen. All the "value" ends up in the pockets of a few, who already had deep enough pockets to invest in the mining in the first place. So they will turn around and dump their speculative holdings when they see it won't rise any farther, leaving whoever is stupid enough to be left holding the bag with bitcoins with no value. So the "rich" people will have gotten out a month before the value crashes, and then everyone else will want out, but find nobody willing to buy it, so the price will rapidly crash.  Because bitcoin has no value in the first place, whoever is last holding it is likely just to abandon the wallets. Then that's it, Bitcoin and all competing cryptocurrencies are dead.

 

The "fees" for trading are far too high for anyone to be willing to use it for any purchase, and too slow to use for impulse purchases. So let's reverse the numbers here. If the crypto exchange fee is $20.00, and energy is $0.10 , $200 in energy is wasted per transaction regardless of the transaction's value (Assuming that was the break even point.)

So the amount of money you have to exchange to make it "better" than:

Western union (4% of principal, or around $50 per 1000, depends on country)  = $400

Walmart (10% of principal) = $200

Paypal ($4.30 +2.9% of principal) = $541

 

Like never mind shipping checks or other monetary instruments through the mail or courier.

 

If Bitcoin or some other crypto currency ever establishes itself, it will only be for very-high value exchanges, think mortgage payment or rent. And only as an interstitial. Nobody in their right mind would hold onto cryptocoins as a store of value with the kind of volatility it has. 

 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

10 hours ago, yian88 said:

I hope they manage to ban and crackdown on crypto globally, it has no value other than scamming amateur investors, and producing massive ammounts of CO2.

Most large mining farms (as I understand it) run off of renewable as it's much better for their profits to use it.

[Curufinwe_wins]

3 hours ago, Kisai said:

Bitcoin is quite literately doing what everyone knew would happen. All the "value" ends up in the pockets of a few, who already had deep enough pockets to invest in the mining in the first place. So they will turn around and dump their speculative holdings when they see it won't rise any farther, leaving whoever is stupid enough to be left holding the bag with bitcoins with no value. So the "rich" people will have gotten out a month before the value crashes, and then everyone else will want out, but find nobody willing to buy it, so the price will rapidly crash.  Because bitcoin has no value in the first place, whoever is last holding it is likely just to abandon the wallets. Then that's it, Bitcoin and all competing cryptocurrencies are dead.

 

The "fees" for trading are far too high for anyone to be willing to use it for any purchase, and too slow to use for impulse purchases. So let's reverse the numbers here. If the crypto exchange fee is $20.00, and energy is $0.10 , $200 in energy is wasted per transaction regardless of the transaction's value (Assuming that was the break even point.)

So the amount of money you have to exchange to make it "better" than:

Western union (4% of principal, or around $50 per 1000, depends on country)  = $400

Walmart (10% of principal) = $200

Paypal ($4.30 +2.9% of principal) = $541

 

Like never mind shipping checks or other monetary instruments through the mail or courier.

 

If Bitcoin or some other crypto currency ever establishes itself, it will only be for very-high value exchanges, think mortgage payment or rent. And only as an interstitial. Nobody in their right mind would hold onto cryptocoins as a store of value with the kind of volatility it has. 

 

I think the real relevant discussion is that official transactions via bitcoin are forcefully limited to under 7/sec across the entire network. Yeah that's really practical stuff guys. Western Union by itself (and not exactly every day use amongst normal folks) processes nearly 10 times the average of the BTC. VISA processes something like 1500 transactions a second.

 

Proof of work with arbitrary and near-completely useless transactional calculation difficulty in order to breed false scarcity is not an intelligent method for scaled systems. Blockchain as a technology should be the eventual future of financial record keeping, but these particularly popular cryptocurrencies are literally incapable to scale sufficiently. (as currently setup anyways).

[schwellmo92]

13 hours ago, BuckGup said:

I need some evidence to support this. I have yet to find or have someone show me solid evidence other than the fact it relatively uses a lot of power. As the high end estimates still are dwarfed by much more wasteful practices that contribute less to society 

The argument that it's not bad relative to something that is very bad is a poor one to make. Evidence below.

 

https://www.ecowatch.com/bitcoin-energy-consumption-climate-impact-2650844602.html

https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7402366/

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/feb/27/bitcoin-mining-electricity-use-environmental-impact

 

[schwellmo92]

15 hours ago, tikker said:

That completely depends on how the energy is produced though. A mining farm running on electricity wind or hydro power is a lot less polluting than one that runs on electricity from coal powered power plants.

I agree, but it is a small minority that are using renewable energy for their mining farms.

[Sauron]

8 hours ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

at the end of the day the money is being spent somewhere and it ends up in the system

That's not true at all. All the money that is invested in BTC is effectively locked up in there unless you sell it for currency you can actually use for your groceries. The proceeds of mining are earned in BTC and must be sold for you to do virtually anything with them.

8 hours ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

i don't even care about BTC but i rather use it than put it into a ether after spending so much energy by mining it

You can't use it. It's completely useless. Its only value is in the money you gain by trading it, which is arbitrary and based exclusively on what others are willing to pay for it.