Is a Mystery $1B Fund Moving the Cryptocurrency Market?

Paigambar Mohan Raj

According to Lookonchain, a mysterious fund began pouring money into the cryptocurrency market just ahead of the market spike earlier this year. The analysis group says that “the fund started withdrawing $USDC from Circle on Dec 7, 2022.” Moreover, the fund currently has over 1 billion $USDC in its possession.

The mysterious fund exchanged the $USDC for $USDT via five addresses and deposited the amount to cryptocurrency exchanges.

Note: Lookonchain corrected its post, saying that the amount is 1 billion USDC and not 10 billion.

Source: Lookonchain, Twitter

The analysis group found that the price of Ethereum (ETH) increased whenever the fund withdrew $USDC from Circle. The relationship between the fund’s movements and the cost of Ethereum (ETH) has led some to believe there is a link between the two.

The movement of the fund has caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community, and many believe this fund to be behind the spike earlier this year.

Furthermore, there is no confirmation about who is behind the large fund. Some believe that the fund could belong to a group of wealthy investors. Meanwhile, others think it could be an institution making a statement about the cryptocurrency market.

Is the fund behind the current cryptocurrency market dip?

The cryptocurrency market dipped on Thursday, with the global market cap falling by 2.2%. As of now, there is no evidence that the fund might have anything to do with it. Instead, the market could be reacting to regulatory worries among investors.

The news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into prominent cryptocurrency exchange Kraken for allegedly breaking securities laws might have sparked today’s market decline. Furthermore, Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, posted a lengthy thread on Twitter about rumors that the SEC would want to ban cryptocurrency staking in the U.S. for retail clients.

Both developments may have spooked investors about potential regulatory changes, leading to a fall in prices.

At press time, the global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $1.11 trillion.