Are there truly crypto whales and what are your takes on them?

[Obari]

I came across a topic asking if people can really change their name to Bitcoin for 200btc here
and my answer was yes speaking for myself.
That very topic reminded me of an issue my brother had as he was scammed of $2000 worth of BTC but we had to track the transaction using the transaction ID on Blockchain and when tracked, we finally found the coin in a wallet containing over $600m(36754.6) worth of Bitcoin after several transactional movement.

My questions
~Are there private individuals who own and posses such amount of Bitcoin?
~Why will one posses such amount as an Individual?
~Are there any consequences to this?

[1714651023]

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[Despairo]

As you can see on the image, the address are owned by Binance, it might be the fourth of Binance's hot wallet.

Anyway if the scammer send the coin to Binance, you could get back your brother's money since Binance can freeze the coins, just not to be late until the scammer already convert the coins to fiat.

But I wouldn't deny if there's a person who have such huge Bitcoin because a billionaire can buy Bitcoin higher than 50,000 BTC or higher at this current rate. There's no consequences if a whale hold a lot portion of Bitcoin, Bitcoin wouldn't be centralized and get manipulated by whale. Actually if a whale is keep buying Bitcoin, it will increase the Bitcoin price since demand is higher than the supply.

[Dave1]

I came across a topic asking if people can really change their name to Bitcoin for 200btc here
and my answer was yes speaking for myself.
That very topic reminded me of an issue my brother had as he was scammed of $2000 worth of BTC but we had to track the transaction using the transaction ID on Blockchain and when tracked, we finally found the coin in a wallet containing over $600m(36754.6) worth of Bitcoin after several transactional movement.

My questions
~Are there private individuals who own and posses such amount of Bitcoin?

Owners maybe of crypto exchanges, or gambling sites.

~Why will one posses such amount as an Individual?

Not sure what you mean by this,

You can see the Top 100 richest bitcoin addresses.

~Are there any consequences to this?

We don't have names associated to bitcoin addresses, except a few again, including exchanges. So there is no consequences, the only thing is that since it is in a public ledger, anyone can track the movement, dates when it was move, where it move, fees associated with it.

[BlackBoss_]

Addresses with balance > 100 or > 1000 BTC
https://www.lookintobitcoin.com/charts/wallets-greater-than-100-btc/
https://www.lookintobitcoin.com/charts/wallets-greater-than-1000-btc/

Nowadays it is crazy to have the number of bitcoins but in the past, it was not difficult. Miners could mine bitcoins easily in the past, low difficulty, less competitors and block rewards were high too.

Initially, block reward is 50 BTC each block that halved to 25 BTC, 12.5 BTC and 6.25 BTC after the third halving in 2020. With 50 BTC for one block, you can have 5,000 BTC from mining only 100 Bitcoin blocks.

Controlled supply

Miners did not mine bitcoin with ASICs in the past, they started with CPU, laptop, GPU, FPGA and ASIC.

Bitcoin Mining History.

[pooya87]

~Are there private individuals who own and posses such amount of Bitcoin?
~Why will one posses such amount as an Individual?
~Are there any consequences to this?

Almost all the time whenever you find a bitcoin address containing a very large amount of bitcoin (like the one in your screenshot) it belongs to a centralized service that is holding other people's bitcoins (in this case a centralized exchange called Binance).

But it is not unheard of for an individual to own that much bitcoin either, remember that bitcoin price was not always this high and will not remain in this level forever. As it keeps rising, a small amount today would look like a lot in the future. For example the 50BTC block reward was once worth barely $0.5. Many individuals have bought or mined bitcoin those days.

There is no "consequence" of having money! Why would there be? There can only be consequence if the owner advertises it and puts themselves at risk of theft or other types of attacks/harm.

[Obari]

As you can see on the image, the address are owned by Binance, it might be the fourth of Binance's hot wallet.

Anyway if the scammer send the coin to Binance, you could get back your brother's money since Binance can freeze the coins, just not to be late until the scammer already convert the coins to fiat.

But I wouldn't deny if there's a person who have such huge Bitcoin because a billionaire can buy Bitcoin higher than 50,000 BTC or higher at this current rate. There's no consequences if a whale hold a lot portion of Bitcoin, Bitcoin wouldn't be centralized and get manipulated by whale. Actually if a whale is keep buying Bitcoin, it will increase the Bitcoin price since demand is higher than the supply.

Thank you so much for your response and positive response but how can we get binance to track and block the Bitcoin because my brother is really in a big mess and that $2000 in my local currency is a huge sum of money and he only helped to trade so he could get some percentage off the trade but everything backfired and now it's a totally different story all together.
I will be glad if you or anyone can help me get to block this coins as there are really alot going on here and seeing my brother in this state really bitters my heart.

Please all help will be greatly appreciated thanks

[Darker45]

Clearly, the wallet that contained the $600 million worth of Bitcoin wasn't the scammer's wallet. It's one of Binance's wallets. And from this information, we can tell that the scammer is not really a wise scammer because he/she is using not only a centralized exchange but one which also requires KYC from all its users. Having said this, your brother should report this to Binance, along with all the evidences. This dumb scammer will not only lose his/her money, his/her identity would also be known.

Anyway, I'm not sure if there is an individual who owns 36,754.6BTC, but it is possible. Why will anybody possess such a huge amount? Well, it's probably the same reason that all of us want to have as much Bitcoin as possible, although I think such individual should be spreading his/her coins in different addresses. As to the consequences, I guess it's good because he/she doesn't have to be working anymore knowing that he/she's got $600 million already. He/she also won't have to stack more coins anymore because he/she's already got so many already. But he/she could also be targeted by scammers and robbers for owning so much.

[mendace]

I came across a topic asking if people can really change their name to Bitcoin for 200btc here
and my answer was yes speaking for myself.
That very topic reminded me of an issue my brother had as he was scammed of $2000 worth of BTC but we had to track the transaction using the transaction ID on Blockchain and when tracked, we finally found the coin in a wallet containing over $600m(36754.6) worth of Bitcoin after several transactional movement.

My questions
~Are there private individuals who own and posses such amount of Bitcoin?
~Why will one posses such amount as an Individual?
~Are there any consequences to this?

Yes, it is possible for private individuals to own large amounts of Bitcoin. There are many possible reasons why someone might possess such a large amount of Bitcoin, including:

They may have purchased the Bitcoin when it was less valuable and held onto it as it appreciated in value.
They may have earned the Bitcoin through mining or other means.
They may have received the Bitcoin as payment for goods or services.
There are no inherent consequences to owning a large amount of Bitcoin. However, it is important to note that Bitcoin, like any other asset, is subject to market fluctuations and may lose value. Additionally, some countries have stricter regulations on the ownership and use of Bitcoin, and individuals may be required to report their holdings or pay taxes on their Bitcoin-related income.

[buwaytress]

I love all these stories of friends and brothers and colleagues getting scammed for thousands of dollars and/or parting way with thousands. All this within a network of people willing to change their name for a fistful of satoshi.

If these stories were true, then truly we are surrounded by people who are wealthy enough not to use Bitcoin properly.

[Rruchi man]

~Why will one posses such amount as an Individual?

They have that number of bitcoins first because they can afford to own it, and they do it because they see a future in it.

~Are there any consequences to this?

They can actually loose it all if things go sideways. Although I am certain that whales have other investments that are sustaining them in this bear season, it will hurt them to lose their crypto investment either to the market or to theft.

[mk4]

Thank you so much for your response and positive response but how can we get binance to track and block the Bitcoin because my brother is really in a big mess and that $2000 in my local currency is a huge sum of money and he only helped to trade so he could get some percentage off the trade but everything backfired and now it's a totally different story all together.
I will be glad if you or anyone can help me get to block this coins as there are really alot going on here and seeing my brother in this state really bitters my heart.

Please all help will be greatly appreciated thanks

Try contacting Binance on Twitter, or on their official website. Clearly and thoroughly explained what happen, as well as prepare your proof.

https://twitter.com/BinanceHelpDesk
https://www.binance.com/en/chat

[lovesmayfamilis]

You didn't give details about your brother's deception. If he assisted in trade, doesn't that imply he was a member of the team in some capacity, which suggests he was aware of what he was doing? I don't think that for $2,000, Binance will help. These are huge sums for you, but not for the exchange. When contacting crypto, a person must understand all the risks, whether he trades incorrectly or stores his seed phrases incorrectly.
As for your questions, I don’t know the reasons that could prohibit a person from having large amounts of bitcoin; this is probably how he ensures his business, and indeed, only the owner can know why he needs such large amounts. Similarly, I do not see any consequences; if a person does not violate any laws, why should he be afraid of someone? Of course, he is not obliged to talk about how much and why he needs bitcoins. This is his right to privacy.

[hugeblack]

I came across a topic asking if people can really change their name to Bitcoin for 200btc here
and my answer was yes speaking for myself.
That very topic reminded me of an issue my brother had as he was scammed of $2000 worth of BTC but we had to track the transaction using the transaction ID on Blockchain and when tracked, we finally found the coin in a wallet containing over $600m(36754.6) worth of Bitcoin after several transactional movement.

How was the tracking done? Sometimes scammers mislead some by sending money to other people's Binance accounts or mixing them with some of the addresses belonging to Binance.
If you are sure that the money was sent directly to Binance, then your chance of recovering it is great, just be quick and contact the support team.
Other than that, perhaps if you post transaction ID , we may be able to give you more information.

and yes, Some whales (+10K BTC) post their bitcoins for commercial, tax or other reasons.

[Lucius]

~snip~
If these stories were true, then truly we are surrounded by people who are wealthy enough not to use Bitcoin properly.

They are not rich enough, they are just dealing with something that they largely do not understand, and the consequences of that are financial losses. Let's take for example the OP who is a Member rank with the potential to become a Full member, and asks such a banal question about whales, as if it is impossible for someone today to have 1000 or 10 000 BTC or even much more.

The Winklevoss twins reportedly have over 100 000 BTC, and MicroStrategy has over 130 000 - and I'm sure there are those who own even larger amounts that are not publicly exposed. Regardless of one's opinion about it, I think that such things should be private as much as possible, at least when it comes to private individuals who can become an easy target for hackers, as well as ordinary criminals.

[coinerer]

This address is not someone's personal address, it is a hot wallet of a largest exchangr  called Binance. So the scammer steals your bitcoins and deposits them in Binance Exchange so when you scan your wallets for Bitcoin transactions from your wallet it points to Binance Hot Wallet. So it is now almost impossible for you to spot the scammer

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

I came across a topic asking if people can really change their name to Bitcoin for 200btc here
and my answer was yes speaking for myself.
That very topic reminded me of an issue my brother had as he was scammed of $2000 worth of BTC but we had to track the transaction using the transaction ID on Blockchain and when tracked, we finally found the coin in a wallet containing over $600m(36754.6) worth of Bitcoin after several transactional movement.

My questions
~Are there private individuals who own and posses such amount of Bitcoin?

Look at the image on that thread you linked and read the message. That incident took place 12 years ago, and Bitcoin is now 14 years old. As of then, 1 bitcoin was not even worth $100. From records, Bitcoin reached $1 for the first time in February 2011, and in 2012, people saw the price at $12, less or more. So I assume such an offer could have only been made then and not now.

You can say yes, but believe me, nobody will offer you 2000 bitcoins now just to change your name to Bitcoin.

I guess it is not a private individual that has such a large holding but rather a company that deals in bitcoin like the forex companies, a CEX, or a casino (as also mentioned by Dave1).

[livingfree]

~Are there private individuals who own and posses such amount of Bitcoin?

Yes, that's for sure.

~Why will one posses such amount as an Individual?

Early adopters and buyers and most likely they've never touched it ever since and have believed or probably have forgotten that they own a lot. Remember that everyone has a timeline when we've bought bitcoin and lucky are those that have bought when it was one, two, three or four digits for its price.

~Are there any consequences to this?

Maybe there is and like how they're going to convert it all at once since policies for huge amount of transactions in exchanges and banks are quite strict.

Another one is the stress, a positive stress on how they're going to spend it.

[solehdavid]

One of the best known today is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust fund. The fund currently holds around 330,000 BTC, which is 1.7 percent of all BTC in circulation. Satoshi Nakamoto is thought to have an apparent ownership of 1 million Bitcoins, and some of the users who bought bitcoins when bitcoin was first launched could also be among these whales. so yes, of course there are whales, but these accounts could also belong to a centralized system that holds people's bitcoins.

[Coin_trader]

One of the best known today is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust fund. The fund currently holds around 330,000 BTC, which is 1.7 percent of all BTC in circulation. Satoshi Nakamoto is thought to have an apparent ownership of 1 million Bitcoins, and some of the users who bought bitcoins when bitcoin was first launched could also be among these whales. so yes, of course there are whales, but these accounts could also belong to a centralized system that holds people's bitcoins.

Grayscale is not an individual but rather institutional investors that holds and manage all the assets invested to them by their customer. I agree that the only known individual that possessed huge amount of Bitcoin and true whale is Satoshi but there’s a lot of Bitcoin whale investors investors that privately stored there coins in there wallet like Elon Musk, Cz and other big person in crypto that too obvious that has the capacity to own huge chunk of Bitcoin without the need to prove by themselves.

My questions
~Are there private individuals who own and posses such amount of Bitcoin?
~Why will one posses such amount as an Individual?
~Are there any consequences to this?

1.) Yes they are but as the word private itself is self explanatory that we will have a hard time to track them 1 by 1.

2.)Why not if he/she truly believes on Bitcoin?

3.) What kind of consequences you are pertaining? Because only the price volatility is the only downside of Bitcoin which will be negligible in the long run if you just hodl.

[CryptSafe]

As you can see on the image, the address are owned by Binance, it might be the fourth of Binance's hot wallet.

Anyway if the scammer send the coin to Binance, you could get back your brother's money since Binance can freeze the coins, just not to be late until the scammer already convert the coins to fiat.

But I wouldn't deny if there's a person who have such huge Bitcoin because a billionaire can buy Bitcoin higher than 50,000 BTC or higher at this current rate. There's no consequences if a whale hold a lot portion of Bitcoin, Bitcoin wouldn't be centralized and get manipulated by whale. Actually if a whale is keep buying Bitcoin, it will increase the Bitcoin price since demand is higher than the supply.

Thank you so much for your response and positive response but how can we get binance to track and block the Bitcoin because my brother is really in a big mess and that $2000 in my local currency is a huge sum of money and he only helped to trade so he could get some percentage off the trade but everything backfired and now it's a totally different story all together.
I will be glad if you or anyone can help me get to block this coins as there are really alot going on here and seeing my brother in this state really bitters my heart.

Please all help will be greatly appreciated thanks

I think it is never too late depending on when this incidence took place. If you found the scammed or hacked bitcoin in binance hot wallet then there is a possibility that the hacker must have traded or exchanged it for fiat or so.  What I would advise you to do is that you can still contact binance support to lay a complaint in respect to the movement of the bitcoin to their wallet also your brother should be able to have an account with binance so the communication can scale through successfully for them to monitor the transaction and know where and who is responsible for the hack and also account freezing would definitely be the next step taken to safe guard your brothers funds. So sorry about the occurrence. Your brother must have gone through trauma. Only a person that has gone through that experience would say it better. It is very much devastating. I just pray binance takes it up swiftly  upon your complaint.