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A Bitcoin whale who first bought BTC in 2011 appears to have sold his entire stash for a total of $1.3 billion, according to on-chain data. The wallets were connected to Owen Gunden, an early Bitcoin arbitrage trader, who was previously believed to be one of the top three richest crypto billionaires.
Gunden, who first bought Bitcoin in 2011, has been slowly moving his crypto fortunes around for years, according to Arkham Intelligence data, but has ramped up activity over the past month, including sending over $344 million to the centralized exchange Kraken.
Arkham Intelligence claims these recent transfers suggest that Gunden has “sold” his entire Bitcoin stash of 11,000 BTC. However, it’s impossible to trace the fate of coins once they’ve been sent to a centralized exchange—it’s possible that he could be using Kraken to custody his coins, or to access the staking feature and earn yield on his holdings.
The on-chain intelligence firm calculated that his total Bitcoin fortune would’ve been cashed out for a total of $1.3 billion since the moves started in late October. Gunden does not appear to maintain an active online presence, though his legend has persisted in crypto circles due to the sizable early bet on Bitcoin.
Throughout the whale's 14 years of holding Bitcoin, Gunden’s net worth has ebbed and flowed with the markets. In 2021, his Bitcoin holdings hit a value of $936 million before crashing down to $209 million during the 2022 bear market.
As of July 10, Gunden held approximately $1.4 billion worth of Bitcoin in wallets tracked by Arkham, as Bitcoin sat at $115,000. This made him the third-richest crypto billionaire in the world, behind just the elusive Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto and Chinese entrepreneur Justin Sun—founder of the Tron network.
By November 12, Gunden had started to move funds to Kraken, and his on-chain valuation dropped to $561 million, making him the eighth-richest crypto holder, per Arkham.
Bitcoin has dropped 31% to $86,466 from its all-time high of $126,080 achieved just over a month ago, according to CoinGecko. The sudden negative move has caused the industry to question whether the crypto market is set to enter a bear market.
Amid this decline, Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood slashed her Bitcoin price target from $1.5 million by 2023 to $1.2 million, citing the increase in stablecoin adoption lessening the need for BTC as a payments tool. Institutional crypto firm Galaxy also cut its end-of-year target from $185,000 to $120,000, as it believes volatility is too low to reach its previous goal.
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