A mysterious individual known as “Mr. 100” has captured the attention of the cryptocurrency community by accumulating a staggering 52,996 Bitcoin, valued at over $3.5 billion, according to on-chain data.
The identity of Bitcoin’s “Mr. 100” remains unknown, but the whale wallet associated with this individual made a significant purchase of at least 1,000 Bitcoin on March 15. This accounts for 52% of the total 1,907 Bitcoin bought by the top 10 Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), as reported by HODL15Capital.
Since November 2022, when the FTX exchange collapsed, the wallet has been consistently receiving Bitcoin. Starting from February 14, it has been adding a minimum of 100 Bitcoin to its holdings almost every day.
Furthermore, the wallet has received larger transfers of Bitcoin from a secondary wallet address, which has also been accumulating tranches of 100 Bitcoin since 2019. This suggests that the mysterious whale has been accumulating Bitcoin since at least 2019, as noted by HODL15Capital.
Given the size of these acquisitions, there is speculation about the identity of the whale. It could be a Hong Kong financial institution preparing for ETFs, the Qatar Investment Authority, other Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, a cold wallet associated with the South Korean Upbit exchange, or an unidentified address belonging to a tech billionaire.
Despite Bitcoin’s price reaching near all-time highs, Mr. 100 continues to accumulate more Bitcoin. On March 12, when Bitcoin was trading above $72,000, the wallet added 400 Bitcoin to its holdings. As a result, the Mr. 100 wallet is currently the 14th-largest holder of Bitcoin, according to data from Bitinfocharts.
The Mr. 100 wallet has been identified by blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence as a cold wallet belonging to the Upbit cryptocurrency exchange. Crystal Intelligence, which analyzed blockchain data, confirmed that the mysterious wallet is indeed linked to Upbit. All outgoing transactions from the wallet have been sent to an Upbit hot wallet, with most transfers consisting of at least 500 Bitcoin. The largest transactions involved the transfer of up to 3,000 Bitcoin.
The analytics team at Crystal Intelligence also discovered that the secondary wallets associated with Mr. 100 also belong to Upbit. This further strengthens the argument that the “Mr. 100” wallet is owned by Upbit, as suggested by pseudonymous on-chain analyst Defioasis.
HODL15Capital also observed that a South Korean entity has been accumulating large amounts of Bitcoin, as shown in a heatmap. The 14 secondary wallet addresses linked to Mr. 100 have all passed Know Your Customer verification on the Upbit exchange, adding more evidence to the theory that the wallet belongs to Upbit.
It is important to note that this article does not provide investment advice or recommendations. Readers should conduct their own research and exercise caution when making investment decisions.