The Mysterious Disappearance Of Nearly A Billion Dollars From An Anonymous Bitcoin Wallet

A digital Bitcoin wallet that was, until very recently, distinguished as the largest such wallet with anonymous attribution is now empty of almost a billion dollars worth of cryptocurrency after transferring that money to two other separate accounts – both of which, as it happens, are also anonymous, according to a recent Tech Radar story. The first transfer was for 5,000 BTC, which at the time it was made came to a total value of almost $46 million, while the second, larger one, was for 96,857 BTC, valued at a little over $887 million. The recipient account of the second transfer is now the second-richest in the world, anonymous or not, behind the one controlled by the cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.

Most of the richest Bitcoin wallets are controlled by high-profile crypto exchanges like Huobi, but when the sending wallet in question was established in April of this year, it grabbed attention for the large transfer of funds that made it among the richest on Earth. Thanks to the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency exchanges, we may never know who the senders or recipients of these large amounts are or even whether the wallets are controlled by single individuals or larger groups.

Some have speculated that notable Bitcoin investors like the Winklevoss twins might control the wallet that recently transferred such immense wealth to other accounts. That speculation also includes the theory that both the sender and recipient accounts are controlled by the same person or persons, but theories as to why they would want to transfer such large amounts to themselves are few and far between. An automated tracker of cryptocurrency transactions reported the transfers in late June. In case you needed another reason to be annoyed with your bank, the total costs and transfer fees attached to the transactions came to, incredibly, just 48 cents.