Mysterious $820 Million Bitcoin (BTC) Withdrawal Stuns Major US Exchange

It is not every day you see nearly a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin (BTC) pack up and leave a major exchange without so much as a forwarding address, but that is exactly what happened earlier today with Kraken.

So, one of the biggest names in the U.S. crypto scene saw 9,890 BTC - roughly $820 million - shuffle out of its cold wallet and into the mysterious depths of an address tagged “bc1qcard.” The transfer, split into two tranches, was not exactly subtle, and while the crypto world loves a good mystery, this one has left more questions than answers.

Whale Alert, the blockchain watchdog that first flagged the move, did not have much to add beyond the raw numbers, and neither did Kraken, which has not commented on whether this was a routine internal shuffle or something more eyebrow-raising.

4,940 #BTC (410,137,420 USD) transferred from #Kraken to unknown wallet

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) March 13, 2025

The plot thickens when you consider that Arkham Intelligence has pegged the destination wallet as potentially belonging to Kraken itself which, if true, would make this less of a whale sighting and more of an in-house accounting exercise. Still, the timing is curious, to say the least.

The withdrawal comes at a critical time for Bitcoin, which is currently trading at $82,830. Market sentiment appears cautious, with many traders questioning whether BTC will test new lows.

Analysts suggest that unless Bitcoin can reclaim the $85,000 level, further downward pressure could be on the horizon. Ethereum (ETH) is also under scrutiny, with some predicting a potential drop to the $1,500 range in the near term.

Adding to the uncertainty, the market‘s reaction to recent developments, such as Fidelity’s staking ETF application filed 30 hours ago, has been muted, with prices declining shortly after the announcement. For Bitcoin, the $80,000 level is now seen as a key support zone to watch.