Bitstamp Bitcoin Wallet Moved $1 Billion In BTC, Only Paid $0.48 In Fees

Almost $1 billion worth of Bitcoin was transferred from a large Bitcoin wallet for a paltry $0.48 transaction fee.

First noticed by the Bitcoin Block Bot on June 27, the Bitcoin address’ owner moved 101,857 BTC in block 636,503. From this transaction, 5,000 BTC was moved to one address and the rest to another. At today’s prices, 101,857 BTC is worth $930,459,620.

A user on Reddit claimed it is a Bitcoin cold wallet address that belonged to Bitstamp when they agreed to have their funds in the custody of financial service BitGo. The Redditor cited a tweet to confirm this. However, a more direct confirmation was this tweet from Bitstamp Co-founder Nejc Kodrič who stated the address 3KZ526NxCVXbKwwP66RgM3pte6zW4gY1tD is a cold wallet belonging to the exchange.

Initially, speculations rose as to who owns this address. Early this year, news outlet The Crypto Associate called it the richest Bitcoin wallet for owning more Bitcoin than any other exchange apart from the wallets of Huobi and Bitfinex, both of which are exchanges.

An article about the wallet’s latest movement was published in the news outlet Decrypt, which called it "the largest mysterious wallet." After the Reddit comment was posted, Decrypt reached out to BitGo, who declined to confirm the identity of the address’ owner.

Currently, the Bitcoin address holds 0.002 BTC because of the transfer.

The news clearly exposed two fundamental truths in the Bitcoin blockchain. First, even if transactions are anonymous, any person can follow the transaction trail in the blockchain. A more sophisticated forensic analysis could be needed for more complicated transactions, but the Blockchain is public for anyone to see.

Second, the transaction showed the cost-efficiency in moving large amounts of money when it was transferred with just a $0.48 transaction fee. According to The Fee Calculator, sending that amount via PayPal will net a charge worth $27 million.