Mysterious bitcoin wallet emptied of almost a billion dollars of cryptocurrency

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Igor Batrakov)

The owner of the world’s largest unattributed bitcoin wallet has emptied their account of almost $1 billion in cryptocurrency.

The transaction saw 101,857 BTC (with a market value of circa $933m at the time of writing) delivered to two recipients, with first first receiving 5,000 BTC ($45.8m) and the second 96,857 BTC ($887.4m).

The transfer made the latter bitcoin wallet the second richest in existence, behind a cold storage wallet owned by cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.

The transaction was first registered on June 27 by an automated tracking service, and cost just $0.48 in associated fees.

Bitcoin billionaire

The sending wallet was first created on April 1 with a transfer of similar magnitude, after which it was logged among the most wealthy bitcoin addresses not owned by high-profile exchanges, whose bitcoin stock is owned primarily by clients.

The identity of the wallet holder remains a mystery, by virtue of the anonymized nature of bitcoin transactions, though speculators have theorized it may have been owned by large scale investors such as the Winklevoss twins.

It is also unclear whether all bitcoin held in the wallet was owned by a single individual, a group of individuals or even an exchange that had not declared its affiliation with the address.

The identity of the transaction recipients is also unknown. Some have speculated that the sending and receiving wallets could be owned by the same entity, although it is unclear why that person (or group) might need to shift the location of their funds.

Via Decrypt

Joel Khalili
News and Features Editor

Joel Khalili is the News and Features Editor at TechRadar Pro, covering cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud, AI, blockchain, internet infrastructure, 5G, data storage and computing. He's responsible for curating our news content, as well as commissioning and producing features on the technologies that are transforming the way the world does business.

Latest in Software & Services
TinEye website
I like this reverse image search service the most
A person in a wheelchair working at a computer.
Here’s a free way to find long lost relatives and friends
A white woman with long brown hair in a ponytail looks down at her computer in a distressed manner. She is holding her forehead with one hand and a credit card with the other
This people search finder covers all the bases, but it's not perfect
That's Them home page
Is That's Them worth it? My honest review
woman listening to computer
AWS vs Azure: choosing the right platform to maximize your company's investment
A person at a desktop computer working on spreadsheet tables.
Trello vs Jira: which project management solution is best for you?
Latest in News
inZOI promotional material.
inZOI has become the most wishlisted game on Steam, but I wouldn't get too caught up in the hype
Xbox Series X and Xbox wireless controller set to a green background
Xbox Insiders are currently testing a new Game Hub feature that looks useful, but I've got mixed feelings about it
A stylized depiction of a padlocked WiFi symbol sitting in the centre of an interlocking vault.
Broadcom warns of worrying security flaws affecting VMware tools
Microsoft Surface Laptop and Surface Pro devices on a table.
Hate Windows 11’s search? Microsoft is fixing it with AI, and that almost makes me want to buy a Copilot+ PC
Oura Ring 4
Activity tracking on Oura Ring is about to get a whole lot better, but I've got bad news about your step count
Google Pixel Buds Pro 2
Cleaned your Pixel Buds Pro 2 recently? If not, you might be getting worse sound