Someone Transferred a Billion Dollars in Bitcoin for Less Than $5

According to information provided by the crypto Twitter account, Whale Alert, 92,857 BTC ($1,092,603,640) were sent from an unknown wallet for a fee just of $4 at current market rates.

Although the Bitcoin network is well known for its generally low transaction fees, the cost-per-transaction has increased by over 500% in the last month.

Bitcoin Block Bot, another whale alert-style Twitter account, reported on June 27 that a 101,857 BTC transaction had moved 0.5% of all Bitcoin currently in circulation, with a total transaction fee cost of around $0.48.

Unknown information

We do not know who sent these funds, nor do we know who the recipient was. Social media users have speculated that a BitGo custodial wallet which manages Bitstamp’s cold storage may own the coins.

Before Bitcoin’s halving, the average transaction fee peaked at $3.19. This represents an increase of over 300% from the average fee on April 26, according to data available on Bitinfocharts. The last time the average BTC transaction fee was over $3.00 was in July 2019.

Historically, Bitcoin transaction fees have increased markedly prior to halving events. The last halving on July 9, 2016 saw transaction fees skyrocket in the weeks prior, even briefly peaking at an average of $0.62/transaction when the value was around $0.10 within a 24-hour window.