On November 12, someone put nearly 25,000 Bitcoins – about $159 million at the time – on an online exchange.
People who own large amounts of Bitcoin are called `Whales`.
About 40% of Bitcoin is currently held by about 1,000 people.
People who own large amounts of Bitcoin are called Whales.
“I would say there are a few hundred people,” said Kyle Samani, managing director of Multicoin Capital. “They can all call each other.”
Authorities have so far been quite slow in catching up with virtual currency transactions.
However, with other virtual currencies, the law may be different.
When asked about whether major investors could coordinate, Roger Ver – a famous early Bitcoin investor said: `I suspect that this is very possible. People have the right to do whatever they want.
“As with any other asset class, large individual investors and large institutions can cooperate to manipulate prices,” commented Ari Paul, co-founder of BlockTower Capital, “In the field of virtual currencies,
Bitcoin’s recent price increase is difficult to explain, as this virtual currency has no intrinsic value.
As with most cryptocurrency-focused venture capital funds, Samani regularly monitors activity from addresses known to belong to the largest investors.
Some funds may buy virtual currency directly from others, without going through the market, to avoid affecting prices.
Of course, ordinary investors don’t have access to cryptocurrency millionaires to chat with.
`This market is not transparent,` commented Martin Mushkin – a lawyer specializing in Bitcoin research. `In stocks, everything needs to be public. But here, it is very difficult for you to know what is going on.`
Regular investors are at an even greater disadvantage with small virtual currencies and tokens.
Meanwhile, with Bitcoin’s rival – Ether, the top 100 addresses hold 40% of the supply.
However, some people believe that the situation in the virtual currency market is not much different from the traditional market.
Others believe that Whales will not sell, because they are people who believe in the long-term potential of virtual currencies.
However, as Bitcoin price continues to surpass its ceiling, these speculations will likely change.