{"id":39028,"date":"2021-03-16T17:43:47","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T15:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=39028"},"modified":"2025-08-30T07:36:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T04:36:22","slug":"analyst-identifies-blockfi-as-the-initiator-of-the-18000-btc-transfer-to-gemini-wallets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/analyst-identifies-blockfi-as-the-initiator-of-the-18000-btc-transfer-to-gemini-wallets\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Identifies BlockFi as the Initiator of the 18,000 BTC Transfer to Gemini Wallets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">Leading Coin Metrics researcher Antoine Le Calvez has determined that the transfer of 18,000 BTC (~$1 billion) to Gemini wallets was carried out by a client of Gemini Custody \u2014 BlockFi.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">It\u2019s BlockFi\u2019s wallet<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Antoine Le Calvez (@khannib) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/khannib\/status\/1371736089447260168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">Earlier, analysts at Glassnode and CryptoQuant clashed over the causes of the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bitcoin-price-falls-to-around-55000\">sharp market downturn<\/a>. Ki Young Ju, head of the latter company, saw this as the result of whales moving a large tranche of bitcoins, including onto the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange<\/span> <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.me\/forklog\/18108\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" rel=\\\"noopener\\\"><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">15 March<\/span><\/a><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\"><a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%24BTC&#038;src=ctag&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">$BTC<\/a> dropped -10% after this signal.<\/p>\n<p>Chart \ud83d\udc49 <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/oIVOklOjbC\\\">https:\/\/t.co\/oIVOklOjbC<\/a> <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/Fs1kkFYBw0\\\">https:\/\/t.co\/Fs1kkFYBw0<\/a> <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ay3lKrIzO2\\\">pic.twitter.com\/Ay3lKrIzO2<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ki Young Ju \uc8fc\uae30\uc601 (@ki_young_ju) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ki_young_ju\/status\/1371479681837510664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">His opponents labeled the hypothesis as untenable. They pointed to the absence of significant changes in the order books, which indicated an internal transfer (between hot wallets).<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">We have been receiving messages asking about large <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BTC?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">#BTC<\/a> inflows into Gemini.<\/p>\n<p>Clarification: This is incorrect, the reported transactions were internal. Those are funds that were already on the exchange\u2019s wallets, and were simply transferred internally.<a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/o1kYsHMCuo\\\">https:\/\/t.co\/o1kYsHMCuo<\/a> <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/GjecVFfX8Y\\\">pic.twitter.com\/GjecVFfX8Y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 glassnode (@glassnode) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/glassnode\/status\/1371413480830558208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 15, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">Independent analyst Willy Woo weighed in on the debate. His analysis suggested that the transfer was executed by an infrastructure player similar to an exchange.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">Woo questioned CryptoQuant\u2019s conclusions and noted that the signal could have prompted 28,300 subscribers of the service. According to the analyst, this is the second such episode in the last 30 days.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">The <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cryptoquant_com?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">@cryptoquant_com<\/a> \u201cdata error\u201d debate.<\/p>\n<p>Did a whale send in 18k of BTC into Gemini to dump the markets? Or was it a data error?<\/p>\n<p>This alert was sent out to 28,300 traders warning of whale dumping. Speculators sold off minutes later. <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/OOjRTvXm49\\\">pic.twitter.com\/OOjRTvXm49<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Willy Woo (@woonomic) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/woonomic\/status\/1371672872557572099?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">Antoine Le Calvez confirmed Ki Young Ju\u2019s assessment.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">The sender was BlockFi. Here\u2019s the visualization <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/VUKGIyHc3n\\\">pic.twitter.com\/VUKGIyHc3n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ki Young Ju \uc8fc\uae30\uc601 (@ki_young_ju) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ki_young_ju\/status\/1371744105869406208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">Glassnode declined to admit its fault. In a new thread, the analysts explained that, in the context of their conservative address-labeling philosophy, they identified the cluster as a major financial-services provider that uses Gemini as custodian.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">For this reason, the experts interpreted the transfer of 18,000 BTC as part of an extended (internal) cluster, rather than funds deposited for trading on a spot exchange.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">5\/ It is at the core of our philosophy to optimize for very high precision and reduce false positives.<\/p>\n<p>Hence we are conservative with labelling addresses and reporting of data points that are outside the essence of the metric at hand \u2013 context is key.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 glassnode (@glassnode) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/glassnode\/status\/1371776567744073729?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">CryptoQuant disagreed, insisting that technically this was an \u201cexternal transfer\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">1\/ Technically, it was an \u00abexternal transfer\u00bb from BlockFi to Gemini.<\/p>\n<p>Despite BlockFi uses Gemini\u2019s custody wallets, it\u2019s not the right approach to cluster them into a single entity as flows in BlockFi and flows in Gemini have different patterns. <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/PA3v3GBE7F\\\">https:\/\/t.co\/PA3v3GBE7F<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cryptoquant_com\/status\/1371801796939673604?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">In Woo&#8217;s view, Le Calvez\u2019s conclusions align with his hypothesis of actions by an \u201cinfrastructure player.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\" data-conversation=\\\"none\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">CoinMetrics: \u00abIt\u2019s BlockFi\u00bb<\/p>\n<p>No validating proof was given, but the wallet above did look like an infrastructure entity. <a href=\\\"https:\/\/t.co\/PNqAQ3ucn8\\\">pic.twitter.com\/PNqAQ3ucn8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Willy Woo (@woonomic) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/woonomic\/status\/1371783650128273408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\\\"font-weight: 400;\\\">Users also debated the event. One commenter noted that CryptoQuant&#8217;s \u201cbogus data\u201d ultimately paid off, while others in the debate sought the truth. Another saw a self-fulfilling prophecy in the traders\u2019 actions.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\\\"twitter-tweet\\\">\n<p dir=\\\"ltr\\\" lang=\\\"en\\\">weak hands responded to an alert based on bogus interpretation of real data<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chad (@bittychad) <a href=\\\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bittychad\/status\/1371785267212738573?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\\\">March 16, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\\\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\\\" charset=\\\"utf-8\\\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\\\"message-body-wrapper\\\">\n<div class=\\\"body color-primary-font-color\\\" dir=\\\"auto\\\" data-unread-text=\\\"Unread Messages\\\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/analyst-forecasts-rise-in-miners-bitcoin-sales\">\u041d\u0430\u043f\u043e\u043c\u043d\u0438\u043c<\/a>, earlier analyst Philip Swift suggested that <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/analyst-forecasts-rise-in-miners-bitcoin-sales\">miners may start selling<\/a> bitcoins to lock in profits.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Subscribe to ForkLog&#8217;s channel on <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCC9FnXTC8_ENzaNSO5cHQ6g\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\" rel=\\\"nofollow noopener\\\"> YouTube<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leading Coin Metrics researcher Antoine Le Calvez has determined that the transfer of 18,000 BTC (~$1 billion) to Gemini wallets was carried out by a client of Gemini Custody \u2014 BlockFi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[18,1166,1227,1156],"class_list":["post-39028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bitcoin","tag-centralized-exchanges-cex","tag-cryptocurrency-transactions","tag-institutional-investors-and-whales"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"12","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39028"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39030,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39028\/revisions\/39030"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}