Speculators were buzzing last year when the third-largest Bitcoin wallet was identified as a “mystery whale”. Even though the wallet was large enough to be used as an exchange for cryptocurrency, it lacked any other distinguishing features. The address, known as “1P5ZED”, began transferring all Bitcoin balances in mid-2015 and was later replaced by another one, “1LQoW”, in July 2022. It is possible that the 1LQoW wallet holder also manages 1P5ZED.
The Third Largest Bitcoin Wallet Changed Hands, Yet On-Chain Data Supports Same Owner
As the Bitcoin price surged to new highs in November 2021, much speculation arose surrounding the third-largest known Bitcoin wallet “1P5ZED”. Rumors swirled on social media, with some mistakenly attributing their wallet to the Microstrategy BTC stash. Blockchain watchers took note when 1P5ZED moved all of its funds in the middle of July.
Blockchain records indicate that by the end of June 2022, the 1P5ZED address had dropped to 0.01257 BTC. Bitcoin.com news followed up with reports that the address was a source for “access to blockchain analysis tools (Chainalysis and Ciphertrace) as part of their job role”. Gemini responded on our news feed with the assertion that “There is almost a 100% chance that the addresses listed in your articles 1P5ZED and 1FzWLk belong together.”
The 1P5ZED wallet also had signs of other exchange spending patterns, including cluster spending. In addition, two annotations highlighted by oxt.me Blockexplorer suggest that the Bitcoin addresses may be linked to Bittrex exchange.
