Last year and in the first half of 2022, speculators assumed that the third largest bitcoin address was a “mystery whale”, although the wallet showed strong characteristics of being a cryptocurrency exchange. After the wallet began transferring all bitcoin balances in mid-July 2022, the address known as “1P5ZED” was replaced by another address. The bitcoin address “1LQoW” is the third largest wallet today, and it is likely that the owner of the 1LQoW wallet is the same entity that operates the 1P5ZED wallet.
The third largest Bitcoin wallet has changed to a new address, a wallet managed by the same owner
In November 2021, after the price of bitcoin rose to new highs, a significant amount speculation Regarding the third largest bitcoin wallet known as “1P5ZED”. Rumors about the wallet have plagued social media, with some people mistakenly linking the wallet to Microstrategy’s BTC holdings.
Then blockchain watchers after the rumors were debunked drew attention that 1P5ZED transferred all his bitcoins in mid-July. Blockchain records show that by the end of June 2022, the 1P5ZED address was down to 0.01257 BTC. When Bitcoin.com News reported on 1P5ZED in 2021, a source “with access to blockchain analytics tools (Chainalysis and Ciphertrace) as part of their job functions” told our news desk:
There is almost a 100% chance that both addresses in your article, both 1P5ZED and 1FzWLk, are Geminis.
The 1P5ZED wallet also showed examples of exchange costs such as cluster costs. Additionally, block researcher oxt.me highlights two annotations that suggest the bitcoin address “1P5ZED” may be associated with the Bittrex exchange.
However, after withdrawing more than 132,000 BTC in mid-July and late June, data still indicates that the wallet is linked to the Gemini cryptocurrency. Although analysts cannot identify the exact owner of 1P5ZED, onchain data, clustering and heuristics show that 1P5ZED has simply changed hands (addresses), but the owner remains the same.
Despite Speculation, Bitcoin’s Third Largest Wallet Isn’t a ‘Mystery Whale’ or a ‘New Market Player’ – Onchain Data Points to US-Based Cryptocurrency Exchange
Today, the third largest bitcoin wallet “1LQoW” has a balance of over 140,000 BTC and the wallet is linked to 1P5ZED and “1FzWLk”. As mentioned in our previous reports, 1FzWLk has operated with 1P5ZED on numerous occasions and has also operated with 1LQoW. It appears that the now-empty 1FzWLk wallet dispersed the funds to other addresses, including 1LQoW. The data further shows that 1FzWLk transactions were often associated with the popular Gemini exchange wallets and the current third richest bitcoin wallet 1LQoW.
Usually social media posts and cryptocurrency publications is defined 1LQoW as the new “mystery whale” or new mega player in the market. OXT researcher Ergo BTC tweeted about the address in July and August 2022. “1LQoW was first seen a few weeks ago and is the first time it has been seen. [transaction] A batch withdrawal from Coinbase,” Ergo he tweeted on July 19. “It’s 2 going [transactions] Going back to 1FzWL, which suggests that this address is at least related to 1P5Zs/1FzWL/key rotation and possibly co-owned? In other words, not a ‘sale’. he wrote:
Coinbase Custody: Pros: Due to neighborhood and early admissions to 1LQoW. Cons: The first thing seen in 1FzWL doesn’t quite match the Coinbase Custody announcement.
Ergo also talked about 1LQoW, a bitcoin wallet on August 2, 2022, where a lot of speculative reports started to rise after the 1P5ZED myths. “Crypto tabloids and clickbaiters have gone from ‘1P5Z is dumping all their coins’ to ‘1LQoW is the new whale that got $1.64 billion out of nowhere.’ ‘lmao,” Ergo he tweeted. Onchain data also confirms that 1LQoW is not a new “mega whale” or “market player” suddenly controlling the third largest bitcoin wallet from 1P5ZED.
1LQoW is most likely an American based cryptocurrency or exchange and we cannot say with 100% certainty that it is a Gemini related BTC wallet. The cons are that the wallet does not match Gemini’s bitcoin reserve data posted on other reserve data sites such as cryptoquant.com and Glassnode. Statistics from Cryptoquant.com’s Gemini-related bitcoin holdings data show that Gemini holds approximately 136,923 BTC. The third largest BTC address, 1LQoW, has approximately 140,664 BTC (as of 2:00 PM ET on December 4, 2022). Data from Coinglass.com shows that Gemini’s BTC reserves are estimated to be around 132,102 BTC today, which is a discrepancy.
What do you think about the relationship between 1P5ZED, 1FzWLk wallets and the current third largest bitcoin wallet 1LQoW? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
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