The number of entities with over 1,000 bitcoin – the so-called “whales” – has hit a four-year high with the recent price rally that helped the price of bitcoin move over the $13,000 mark. The population of whale entities is now at 1,939.

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), a bank for central banks, is working with Switzerland’s central bank on a central bank digital currency pilot.

Cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger is reportedly looking into an apparent phishing scam after several of its customers reported they received emails impersonating the company.

Sponsored: October 27, 2020 (Press Release) – Fan-favorite casino CryptoSlots releases a spookier incarnation of their Alice in Wonderland game. Alice in Halloweenland is now available and players old and new can claim introductory bonuses.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Number of Bitcoin Whales With Over 1,000 BTC Hits 4-Year High
• Bank for Central Banks BIS to Trial Digital Currency This Year
• Ledger Starts Investigating Phishing Scam Targetting Its Users
• Sponsored: CryptoSlots Offers Halloween Version of Popular Slot and $250 Bonuses

Number of Bitcoin Whales With Over 1,000 BTC Hits 4-Year High

The number of entities with over 1,000 bitcoin – the so-called “whales” – has hit a four-year high with the recent price rally that helped the price of bitcoin move over the $13,000 mark. The population of whale entities is now at 1,939.

A whale entity is identified through clusters of addresses held by a single network participating holding at least 1,000 BTC. The number of whales in the space is now at the highest level it’s been since September 2016, after growing by 2.2% last week.

The rise comes shortly after PayPal announced support for BTC, ETH, LTC, and BCH, letting users buy, sell, and hold cryptoassets directly from their platform. The move helped cryptoasset prices rise as the news was seen as bullish.

Several top public companies have also recently disclosed bitcoin investments. These include Mode, MicroStrategy, and Square.

Bank for Central Banks BIS to Trial Digital Currency This Year

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS), a bank for central banks, is working with Switzerland’s central bank on a central bank digital currency pilot.

According to the head of BIS’s Innovation Hub, Benoît Cœuré, the move is part of a plan to build on central banks’ experience with the cross-border use of central bank digital currencies, including with the Bank of Thailand, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and with the Swiss National Bank.

Cœuré said:

“By the end of this year, we plan to publish our first wholesale CBDC proof-of-concept with the Swiss central bank.”

The work, he added, will “pave the way” for retail versions of central bank digital currencies.

Ledger Starts Investigating Phishing Scam Targetting Its Users

Cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger is reportedly looking into an apparent phishing scam after several of its customers reported they received emails impersonating the company.

The email was shared on social media by concerned users, who wondered why they were receiving messages from Ledger saying the Ledger Live service had been hit with a malware attack. The message read:

"At this moment, it's technically impossible to conclusively assess the severity and the scope of the data breach. Due to these circumstances, we must assume that your cryptocurrency assets are [redacted] risk of being stolen.”

It then directed readers to click a button to download a new version of the software. Ledger suffered a data breach h in late June. A ledger spokesperson reportedly pointed out the firm is investigating the situation and pointed out “Ledger will never ask you for your 24-word recovery phrase.”

Bitcoin Whales Just Split Up $5.5B Into Smaller Wallets

The recent increase in the price of Bitcoin has caused accounts with a lot of BTC to move funds on the blockchain. Whales have been found to be moving their funds to smaller wallets, not to exchanges.

Since the price of BTC started rising, whales sent a total of 423,914 BTC to other addresses. In total, $5.5 billion were divided up into “small wallets” with less than 1,000 BTC each. This is what’s happening in the bubbles above the large transactions from whales (light blue) to smaller wallets (in green) — and what we can see in the bar graph below as well.

There are a few possible explanations for this activity. Whales could be trying to evade taxes, as only transactions over $10,000 have to be reported, according to the travel rule of international banking.  The fund may also be being sold to new investors entering the market in private sales.

Large BTC holders may also be trying to exchange their BTC without revealing the source or nature of the transaction. The on-chain movements can be being made to obfuscate transactions through a technique called “layering.” Splitting the funds into smaller transactions helps them hide their tracks and attract less attention.

CryptoSlots Offers Halloween Version of Popular Slot and $250 Bonuses

 

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Alice in Wonderland is one of the casinos’ most popular bitcoin slots, which is why it was chosen for this seasonal makeover. Slotland Entertainment has given word that plans are already in place to alter some of their other top games in a similar fashion.

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