A prominent Bitcoin “whale” who first bought BTC in 2011 has reportedly sold all of his Bitcoin holdings, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, according to the latest on-chain data. The wallets are linked to Owen Gunden, an early Bitcoin arbitrage trader who was once XEM one of the world’s top three richest crypto billionaires.
According to Arkham Intelligence, a company specializing in on-chain data analysis, Gunden has been moving his crypto assets for years, but has seen a sharp increase in recent activity. Specifically, he transferred more than $ 344 million in Bitcoin to the centralized exchange Kraken. This has led observers to question whether Gunden "Dump" all 11,000 BTC or just temporarily deposited on the exchange to exploit other benefits such as Staking.
Arkham Intelligence believes that when Bitcoin is transferred to a centralized exchange, it becomes difficult to track the coins. Gunden may keep the assets to generate income through Staking services or other forms of asset management, rather than selling them outright. The total value of his Bitcoin portfolio since the beginning of trading in late October has reached $1.3 billion. Despite his low profile in forums and media, Gunden is still mentioned in the crypto community for his early and large-scale investment in Bitcoin.
During his 14 years of holding Bitcoin, Gunden's assets have fluctuated wildly with market cycles. In 2021, his BTC holdings reached $936 million, but fell to $209 million during the 2022 bear market. As of July 10, with BTC prices reaching $115,000, Gunden's total Bitcoin holdings in his tracked wallets were worth around $1.4 billion, making him the third-richest crypto billionaire in the world, behind only anonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto and Chinese entrepreneur Justin Sun, founder of the TRON network.
By November 12, Gunden began transferring some of his Bitcoin to Kraken, causing his on-chain value to drop to around $561 million, dropping him to eighth place on the list of richest crypto holders, according to Arkham.
Meanwhile, the anonymous Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto remains the 11th richest person in the world, with the total value of his Bitcoin portfolio tied to his long-standing wallets exceeding $130 billion, according to Arkham Intelligence. Bitcoin’s recent surge in price – up 14% in the past month and surpassing Bill Gates’s fortune of $117 billion – has helped push Satoshi’s net worth to a record high.
Bitcoin has now fallen about 31% from its record high of $126,080 to $86,000, according to CoinGecko, prompting investors to question whether the crypto market is entering a new bear phase.
